Last Summer Dreams
by SirAngelo
Summary: The Keyblader's are offered a respite in the form of a month of summer. A respite to let them grow on their own, and grow closer to one another. A respite to forget the wages of fate, and just be normal teenagers again. SxK. RxN. CURRENTLY ON HIATUS
1. Homecoming

_(On a derelict theatre stage, under a banner that reads "Welcome to the new fic!" stands the usual GOD troupe, done up in cosplays. Angelo is dressed as Sanji from _One Piece, _Sora and Kairi as Scott Pilgrim and Ramona Flowers from _Scott Pilgrim Versus the World, _Riku as Dante from _Devil May Cry, _and Kalyn with a silver wig on as Daenerys Targaryen from _A Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire._)_

_Angelo: Welcome one and all to Last Summer Dreams!_

_Kairi: Your fics always have the most unfortunate acronyms._

_Angelo: Quiet you._

_Riku: So...what's with the costumes?  
><em>

_Angelo: Well, I'm going to _Cos & Effect_ this weekend, so I figured we should all get into the spirit._

_Namine: Wait. If Kalyn is Dany, shouldn't Riku be Khal Drogo? Or Daario Naharis?_

_Kalyn: What are you implying?_

_Angelo: Riku doesn't look a thing like Drogo, and if I made him Daario, I would have to give him facial hair. And I know a specific fangirl who would skin me if I ever gave him facial hair._

_Kairi: (Taps her foot impatiently)_

_Angelo: What now?_

_Kairi: You have to explain yourself mister..._

_Angelo: FINE! Yes, this fic is a month late from it's debut date. Why did I set a date? I can never make it... So, I'm sorry for that. I'm gonna try my best to bang out chapters for this ASAP so we can get to the good stuff, nice and quick. But we got a few housekeeping things to deal with. One, this fic will be short. Only six chapters in length with a bit of a floating time line around the month of August, focusing solely on the island of Salm, where our intrepid heroes live. The five chapters following this one will have the following themes/subjects to them:_

_-Focusing on the newcomers to Salm island_

_-Perspective from some of the parents of our heroes_

_-Focusing on Riku_

_-Focusing on Kairi and Namine's sixteenth birthday_

_-The finale, of an undisclosed subject_

_Also, do to my stupidity with computers and whatnot, there will be a slight formatting change with the fic, involving speech. The rules are as followed:_

"Spoken dialogue" (No italicization, no underline, quotations, as always)

_Thoughts and internal monologue/dialogue_ (Italicization, no quotations)

"_Dialogue from 'external characters', like Keyblade Spirits"_ (Italicization with quotations)

_Angelo: Hope that clears things up. And, since I'm in the mood, how about a cosplay change before we begin this show. How am I gonna change on stage? (Spins around, and he is now costumed as Doctor Insano from _The Spoony Experiment_) Why, with science, of course! And I would also like to take this opportunity to use this forum to announce my candidacy for Prime Minister of Canada! I don't care what anyone says, there is no way I'm eviller than Stephen Harper! If you elect me, I promise to turn Prince Edward Island into a maximum security prison where criminals will be hunted down like dogs! And I will construct a giant buzz saw to separate Canada from the United States – including Alaska! Also, I -_

_Roxas: It's finally happened. He's gone totally insane..._

_Kairi: Who had August in the pool?_

_Angelo: Vote for Insano! Vote for the lesser of two evils! Vote for SCIENCE!_

* * *

><p>Homecoming<p>

"_Master? May I have a quick word with you?"_

_The young man strode quickly across the baroque carpeted floor, his surrounding walls of pale yellow stone, illuminated by torches contained in lanterns._

_"What might you ask at this hour?" The young man's master was certainly old enough to qualify for that title. His face was old and worn with age and experience – but not unkindly. "You weren't in the dining hall tonight." His wizened face crinkled up in suspicion. "You were studying in the library all nigh, again, weren't you?" A few scars were spread around his features, serving to make the old man look fierce._

"_I...I lost track of time. I didn't mean to, truly." They were outside, under some sort of covering – and outdoor hallway. Walls to his left and a ceiling above, but to his right were only thick pillars every fifteen feet. Beyond the green lawns of the castle grounds was the bright and endless starry night._

_The older man looked upon the young man, who seemed genuinely shamed at his habit. "I suppose I can entertain one question. But just one."_

"_Thank you, Master." The young man with deeply tanned skin showed his master a scrap of paper. "I found this passage in an old tome. Uh... Maester Gregor's _Portents, Prophecies, and Passages._" He handed him the paper, which had the passage in question written on it in a precise, neat hand. "Only of few of the passages found in _Portents_ aren't analyzed their, and even then, with some research you can find the analysis in other books, but not this one. I spent hours looking for one, but I came up short. I was wondering if you could help my decipher it."_

_The older man gazed down at the paper, his eyes moving left and right, dancing across the words in silence, before he read it aloud._

"_A cycle of death, bound by the Key,_

_Of those whose wills are not born free._

_One of hope, and eyes of the cerulean sky,_

_The second born with dark ambition, and golden eye._

_Destiny's soldiers, wielders of Fate, born only to fall._

_If the cycle breaks, they bring salvation for all._

_But, if Destiny's champions do indeed die,_

_Then, what does that say for you and I?"_

_When the master finished reading, he folded the paper and pocketed it within his robes, staring at the white-haired pupil who brought him this prophecy._

"_Do you know what it means, Master?"_

"_Apocrypha." He said slowly, after much consideration. "Even here, at the Well of Souls, we do not possess all the information to be had." His pupil became crestfallen at this proclamation, clearly hoping for more from this dire, vague omen. "I vaguely remember this passage from my youth. A mentor of mine theorized that it's meaning was lost even before Gregor's time. He also thought it was likely nothing more than part of an old fairy tail."_

"_I see..." Despite having every reason to trust his master, the white-haired young man was not satisfied with theories. He wanted a true answer._

_With a slight nod, his master told him, "Now, it's time for you to sleep. Your Rite is fast approaching, and you need your strength. Something you will not find by skipping meals and spending all night worrying over long forgotten portents."_

"_Yes, Master." He gave the older man a deep bow. "Good evening to you, and I will be ready for my Rite."_

_"I know you will." He smiled kindly at the young man, at the prodigy. "We all expect great things from you. And I know you will do the Order proud."_

_The dark-skinned pupil smiled back, though his smile was less pronounce and warm. "I may go abroad, though, if I complete the Rite? That is correct?"_

"_You may go wherever your heart wishes after the Rite."_

* * *

><p>Sora woke up with a loud yawn, rubbing sleep out of his eye. <em>Another weird dream...<em> This was the second morning in a row he woke up after some sort of bizarre dream. _It was rather lucid, too._ He didn't like that at all. He had played enough video games and watched enough anime in his life to know that lucid dreams meant bad news for the hero.

"_Good morning, Master Sora!"_ Reina greeted rather cheerfully.

Sora smiled at his Keyblade Spirit's chipper attitude. _Morning, Reina. What's with the greeting?_

"_This is our first morning together as Master and Spirit, and I've always greeted my Masters this way when the wake in the morning."_

_You've had Masters before me?_

"_Keyblade Spirits... Our profession is not particularly straightforward, but suffice to say we choose if we want to be Spirits to the new generation of Keyblade Warriors, and we choose who we wish to serve."_

_Uh...good to know, I suppose._ Sora did have to wonder though, if any of the others had gotten in touch with their Spirits yet. He met Reina before the Kingdom Key turned into Destiny Heart, so he assumed it was possible any of the others could have met their Spirits.

He rose out of his bed, only to groan, rubbing his back and shoulders. He was still a little sore from his fight with Cassius the previous day. Scratch that, he was sore from the gauntlet of Immortals him and his friends had to run through yesterday.

_Hell, the past two days weren't particularly kind to us. Four forms of Cassius, Pete, Maleficent, Aeron..._

When he exited his bedroom into the adjoining room, a large open space that served as his house's basement, he saw that the pull-out couch was already made up, meaning Roxas was already up, and probably had climbed upstairs for breakfast. He twisted back to check the clock on his bedside table, seeing it was only a quarter past nine. A good wake up time for him.

Taking advantage of the empty basement suite, he entered the bathroom which neighboured his room for his morning shower, taking good time to let the warm water run over his sore joints and bones, enjoying the sensation on the injured extremities. He almost considered taking a bath to soak them, but that would have to wait. It was his first day after another save the world quest, and he only had one month of summer vacation left. He had priorities, most of which involved spending time with his friends and girlfriend.

After cleaning, washing, shampooing, drying, and a quick shave, Sora entered the most sacred part of his morning cleanliness ritual: his hair. Most people assumed that Sora used a gel to make style the hair the way he did, but anyone who had touched his hair knew it was far too soft for hair gel to have been used. Although his hair colour matched his mother's, his hair style and structure came from his dad; his hair didn't really grow out long, but rather it just grew thicker and more voluminous, forming into clumps,spikes, and curls. With the powers of genetics, Sora simply added a high quality mousse that he had been using for years (he was surprised that he had been able to find the exact same brand in Traverse Town and the Radiant Garden) to give his 'do more height and shape, before using his fingertips to style his spikes into the proper, exact shape.

With that task done, he dressed (not in his enchanted black adventuring garb, just an ordinary t-shirt and shorts) and headed upstairs for breakfast, finding his mom frantically moving about the kitchen, and Roxas sitting at the table, still in his pyjamas.

"Look who finally woke up." Roxas commented with a thin grin.

"Look who still hasn't showered." Sora countered back at his brother. "Morning, mom." He said, sitting down at the table.

"Morning sweetie," Allison Alleris beamed at her child, putting a plate loaded with bacon, toast, and fresh melon and mango. "Glad to be home today?"

Sora already had his mouth crammed shut with fruit, so Roxas answered for his brother. "I think tonight is gonna be much better than last night."

"Yeah, I bet..." Before the twins had gone to bed, their parents told them about what had happened to them last night. Some sort of rift appeared in the sky above Salm, broadcasting their battle with Cassius the Cosmos to everyone. Allison clearly had reservations of seeing her precious sons fight in mortal combat. "That... How do you manage dealing with that?"

Roxas shrugged. "We just have to. I mean, we've all had to fight fearsome, tough, strong opponents, and we've always come out on top." He craned his neck and gave it a rub. "Despite the pain."

"Eh, this isn't so bad." Sora said, while buttering his toast. "First week after I got the Keyblade was the worst, by far. Or when Clayton shot me in the rear with his blunderbuss! Man...I couldn't sit down for two days after that." He then noticed the horrified look on his mom's face. "Oh...guess I shouldn't be talking about this stuff so freely, huh?" He laughed nervously.

"Please, don't. If what you said is true, and you do have to go...off again, I'm gonna have nightmares about that stuff every night." With that, Allison paced about frantically a second more, before picking up a ledger on a counter. "Well, I don't think I can put off going into the restaurant any longer today. Goodbye, boys." She kissed each of her sons on the forehead in turn, Roxas blushing as this was his first real instance of being kissed by his mother. "I should be back sometime around five, see you then." She smiled sweetly at the boys, the two of them saying goodbye as well, before she left for the day.

Finishing breakfast, Sora asked. "So, what do you wanna do today...brother. Hehe." He remembered when he was younger, and asked his parents why he couldn't have a brother or sister. The exact explanation evaded him at the moment – all he could remember was his dad had issues in procreating – but he was always sad that he never could grow up with a sibling. Having Roxas was like having a prayer answered.

As for the blond, former Nobody, he was still in a bit of a daze; only in his dreams did he imagine having a mother, a father, a brother... a girlfriend. He was a little afraid that he would wake up soon and find himself back in his all white and grey room in The Castle That Never Was.

"Wha?" He shook his head. "Oh...I..."

At that moment, the phone rang.

"Guess we're about to find out." Sora got up from the table to answer the device. "Hello?"

"_Hey, Sora!_" Kairi replied happily from the other line. "_Glad to see you got up, you lazy bum._"

_Everyone has to take shots at that..._ Sora thought with a roll of his eyes. "So, did you call just to taunt me?"

"_No. I was talking with Nam, and we realized that she – and by extension, Roxas – really don't have any clothes. Dayne and Kalyn probably could use some new clothes too, so how about we all meet in town, shop, and then go out to lunch?_"

"Oh...okay." Although the prospect of lunch was promising, Kairi was a manic shopper, something that was known by half the students at their high school. Only Selphie and her older sister Erica seemed to be able to match her energy at the hobby. "I guess we have to. With Dayne's wardrobe, he'll probably roast to death in a few hours out here."

Kairi giggled on the other line. "_Okay. I'll give Riku a call. Say we meet just outside the Wired Monk at about...ten-thirty?"_

"Sure thing. See you soon, Kairi."

"_You too. Love you._" With that, she hung up, and Sora put the telephone on the receiver.

"Okay, get showered quickly." He told Roxas.

"What for?"

"We're going shopping."

"With Kairi?" The blond had a shocked look on his face, which was only worsened when his brother nodded back. "Oh dear God!"

"Oh, come on, she's not that bad." Sora lied. "Besides, there's six of us to temper her." He began to clean up his plate. "You, me, and Riku aren't shoppers, and I don't think Namine, Dayne, or Kalyn will turn out to be much of one, either."

"I doubt that Kalyn girl likes much of anything." Roxas muttered. "Except maybe Riku."

"Give her a chance. We just met her the other day."

Roxas shook his head, remembering words that Ansem had taunted him with once. "You're too nice for your own good, Sora."

* * *

><p>"Dayne, get up. It's quarter to ten!"<p>

"Excuse me? Did you die and come back to life yesterday?"

"No..."

"Then screw off, Silver." Riku shook his head and groaned.

Being a single income family, the Shiozaki household was rather small, large enough to fit the needs of it's regular occupants (Riku and his mother), but not much else. With both Sora and Kairi's family taking on an extra body for the next several years in the form of Roxas and Namine, Riku found himself straddled with two house guests that weren't exactly making life easier for him.

Dayne was laying supine on the small loveseat couch in the living room, head half off it, and his long legs dangling over the other edge, his duster coat and under-jacket throw in a pool around the piece of furniture in question. The previous night's activities proved especially exhausting for the man with crimson-striped, blue hair, having been asleep for close to twelve hours; especially jarring if you knew Dayne normally slept less than six.

"Kairi just called, we're all going clothes shopping at ten-thirty." Not that he could blame Dayne for not wanting to go shopping with Kairi. "And we're mostly doing if for the benefit of you two. So get up and get showered."

"Shh!"

"I'll get up when I feel like it. Did you die and-"

"'Come back to life yesterday?' No. I didn't. How long are you gonna keep that excuse up?"

Dayne turned around on his makeshift bed and gave Riku a wry smile. "I'll stop tomorrow I swear."

"Would you two stop yammering on?" Dayne's duster fluttered through the air, draping over Dayne's grinning face. "I'm trying to watch this television thing." Kalyn turned back around, sitting cross-legged on the floor, enthralled with the morning news report on the television.

And there was the second problem. To be honest, the girl from the deposed kingdom known as Dalmasca wasn't as large as an imposition as Dayne (being a half foot shorter than him and and bit more reserved towards Riku and his mom) but Riku had to go and channel Sora last night, giving her his bed and sleeping on the floor himself, entertaining any and every question she had, before she dozed off around two in the morning. Questions about himself, about Sora and Kairi, Roxas, Namine, the islands... He rubbed his eyes, pinching his cheeks at the same time, trying to wake himself up.

It was at this time that Eira Shiozaki, Riku's mother, entered the room, a tray of food draped across her arms. She passed out bowls of bran cereal, topped with fresh fruit to her son and the impromptu house guests.

"Thanks, mom." Riku smiled back at the smaller woman. Being an elementary school teacher, she was off during the summers, time Riku always appreciated, since it meant they could see each other more.

"You're welcome, Riku." She smiled wearily. Riku could still tell she had reservations about the Keyblade and the journeys it seemed to direct towards him and his friends, after seeing the battle with Cassius last night. "Did everyone sleep well?"

Dayne finally sat up, letting Riku sit down next to him. "Very well, thank you." The ex-Immortal replied. "And I promise, I will not make much more of an imposition on you, ma'am."

"Please, Dayne, this-"

"I won't hear of it. In fact, once we're done this little shopping trip, I'm going out to look for an apartment." Kalyn shifted uncomfortably on the floor, but no one said anything further, as everyone in the room followed the brunette girl's actions, and watching the news report.

"_...returning to our top story this morning,_" the female anchor said, welcoming the viewers back from the commercial break. "_The strange aurora of lights that appeared above the island of Salm at around six pm yesterday evening. The strange phenomena seemed to be some sort of random event, as a sound explanation has yet to be obtained. Most people seem to pass it off as some sort of magnetic disturbance, like the auroras found near the poles of the Great Ocean, but others have called in or been interviewed, claiming they could see vague humanoid shapes within the lights._

"_At this time we will be re-airing the press conference held earlier today by Mayor of the township of Salm, and Governor of the island of Salm, Aiden Minami."_

The image on the screen changed to a middle aged man, thinning black hair and a spade shaped beard, standing behind a large podium and a number of microphones propped up on the stand.

"That's Kairi's father isn't it?" Kalyn asked. "Adoptive father, right?"

"Yeah." One of the first things she and Riku had talked about was Kairi and her story.

"He's a politician?" Dayne muttered distastefully. "No wonder I can't stand him... What's with this mayor and governor junk?"

"They're two separate position of political office." Eira began to explain in a small voice. "Aiden is on his fourth term as mayor – who only run cities or towns – which is his final term. Elections are in October, and he leaves office in January. The Governors run islands as a whole, whether they be large like Maydel, or small like Salm, here. He was only elected to the position in March, and assumed office not too long ago."

Dayne nodded along, keeping his eyes narrowed on the televised image of Kairi's adoptive father.

"_...all we can say about the aurora for yesterday evening is that it is was some sort of magnetic disturbance in the atmosphere, according to a theory brought to me by one of my advisers. There is no cause for concern, as it was nothing more but a freak accident."_ Aiden Minami lied through his teeth, though only a handful of people knew he was lying.

Eira squinted pensively. "Hmm, I have to wonder..."

"What is it, mom?" Riku asked.

"Well, I could see that..." she swallowed a little, "that battle clearly. So could Aiden, Julia, Erica, Dias, and Allison. But why couldn't anyone else?"

"I gotta hunch." Dayne put his empty cereal bowl on an end table next to the couch. He scratched at his chin, all eyes on him. "How best to put this... somethings can't be seen by normal people. Ghosts, spectres, supernatural hoodoo are hidden from the mundane world by...like a veil, that only people that are spiritually attuned, people with a certain amount of spiritual energy can see."

"And that rift they all saw was one of them?" Kalyn asked. "And if it was hidden by that...veil, how did their parents see it?"

"Well, spiritual energy has a weird way of reacting to non-spiritual people." Dayne continued. "If a person with a high amount of that energy spends a lot of time with someone who isn't spiritual, then the energy of the first person will seep into, touch, the non-spiritual person, causing them to become spiritual." Dayne shut his eyes and waved his head about in an odd manner. "Again, it's just a theory, and I didn't understand it much even when it was explained well to me."

Riku's eyes narrowed. He had heard about stuff like this during his tenure with DiZ. The sixth sense, sight beyond sight. "So...because we spent so much time with our families, we've awakened their sixth sense? The sense to see beyond that veil?"

"Yep. Probably extends to anyone else you spend a lot of time with. You know, like good friends. Stuff like that."

Riku sighed tiredly. _What are the odds that Tidus and the others saw us fight Cassius, clear as day?_ But he already knew that answer.

* * *

><p>"Erica, you really should go easier on her..."<p>

"Come on, mom! This her first day here. I won't break her on her first day.

After coming downstairs from her shower, Namine found herself assailed by a recently roused from sleep Erica Minami, who decided to give her new sister one of her infamous bear hugs. Knowing her own birth daughter, Julia Minami was doing her best to try and get Erica to go easy on the former Nobody. But when Namine was finally released from the crushing hug, the blonde was red in the face from laughter, beaming at her new parent and sibling.

Kairi watched from the kitchen table with a smile on her face too, because she knew this scene all too well. The day after she had been left on the Minami's doorstep, when Erica found out she now had a little sister, the raven-haired girl attacked the young Kairi with a tight bear hug, so tight their parents were worried Kairi was hurt. But the redhead just laughed and smiled like Namine was doing now.

_I'm glad. She deserves this._ Having to share a bed, do to space restraints, Kairi knew first hand how giddy Namine was about this change around in her life. Especially about having a family. "They're not going to lock me away, or be nice to me and expect something in return. This is literally a dream come true!" She had declared last night, so excited and jittery she could barely lay still.

"So," Julia began, after her two daughters were pried apart. "What are you three up to today?" Julia looked nothing like any of her daughters – granted seeing as how Kairi and Namine weren't her birth children – with a willowy figure, kind green eyes, and dark blonde hair done up in a short braid. Still attractive and youthful looking, despite being in the mid-thirties. Now that she had met the women, Kairi thought her mom had a lot of similarities to one Aerith Gainsborough.

"First day out of summer semester, so I'm just gonna try and relax for a day or two." Erica said with a grin. She worked while she was at school, and only had three months of the year wholly to herself.

"We're going out shopping with the rest of the group." Kairi answered, causing Erica to chuckle.

"Really, Kai? After fighting that epic battle, you're forcing them on a spree with you?"

The Princess of Heart looked rather offended. "Why does everyone have that reaction?" She asked. "I'm not that bad." She turned to her mother and sister. "Am I?"

The two blondes looks off, wistfully and nervously, to try and deflect the question.

"_I have probed through your memories."_ Her Keyblade Spirit, whom she dubbed Miw, though that was not his real name. _"And yes. Yes you are that bad."_

_Shut it, you._ She mentally lashed back at him. _And stay out of my memories!_

"And you, Namine?" Julia turned to the third teenage girl. "It's your first day here, is there anything we can do for you?" She gave her a warm smile.

"Um...well..." She looked away for a second, forgetting for a moment where she was, and that this women actually and legitimately loved and cared for her. "I've always had problems...seeing things from far away. I think..."

"Do you need glasses? Why haven't you got them, yet?"

Namine seemed to shrink where she stood. "I asked DiZ...Ansem...he said I couldn't risk going outside. And M-marluxia..." She visibly paled when she said that name, "he said...'stop crying or I'll give you something to cry about'..."

Gently, Julia placed her arms on the paling girl's shoulders.

"It's okay." She reassured in a half-whisper. "Erica, I have to get to work. When Namine gets back, do you think you could take her down to the optometrist?" The raven-haired girl smiled and nodded. "Alright." She got up to leave, but turned around one last time. "Oh, and girls," she said, addressing Kairi and Namine, "uh...your father, he would like to speak with you when he gets home tonight..."

_Thought so..._ "Okay, mom." Kairi calmly replied.

This caused Julia to raise an eyebrow. Kairi would usually act up when her father wanted to speak with her in private. An instilled fear of disappointment.

"You're okay with this?"

Kairi nodded "Yeah. After all, you said I was the one who had change." _And he never liked change._ "I was surprised he didn't force me down for a talk when I walked in the door last night."

"Yeah...Your father said he wanted to, but he had work to get to. And I know it's always work with him, but this something he had to do quickly, he said. Something involving Namine."

"Me?" The blonde looked confused, and her new mother nodded in response.

"Told you daddy would accept you, Nami" Erica said in a sing-song voice. Namine blushed slightly.

"Anyways, I'll be home around four, girls." Everyone shared their goodbyes, as Julia Minami left the house.

Around this time, Kairi whipped her head around, looking at the clock mounted on the wall. "Ten-ten! We gotta roll, Namine." She grabbed her newly christened twin by the arm and forcibly dragged her to the front door. "Shopping time! See you later, Erica."

"See Kai, this is why people don't want to go shopping with you..." Namine moaned, as her sister dragged her out the door. "Hey! Wait up! I don't even have my shoes on!"

* * *

><p>"Cripes! It's hot out!" Dayne panted, crouching his giant frame in a bit of shade on the street.<p>

"And this is why we're going shopping, Dayne." Kairi said with her hands on her hips. Everyone had prepared for the heat, save for Dayne who had come in his black jeans, black leather under-jacket, and duster coat. Five minutes after leaving Riku's home, he had discarded his duster and under-jacket – revealing a white t-shirt underneath – but he was still sweltering. "And don't say you can take the heat. This is cool for August! It's like twenty-five. I know your wardrobe, four-fifths of it are either black or leather." Kairi had come equipped for the heat in a denim sundress and gladiator sandals.

"Yeah, it's not that bad." Kalyn replied. She was wearing the only other clothes she had brought with her, besides the shorts and top. It was some sort of garb, popular in Rabanastre and Dalmasca at large, made from a material they called sand-silk. Loose-fitting, wide cuffed trousers that swished around her ankles whenever she moved her legs, a some sort of thing, loose, long sleeved shirt, complete with sleeves as wide as her pants, and a large hood. It was light, cool, and kept the direct sunlight right off her. "You guys get a nice breeze from the ocean here. Try the dry heat in Rabanastre, then come talk to me."

"Hot..." Dayne moaned again.

Everyone rolled their eyes. "When are pineapple head and chocobo hair getting here?" Kalyn asked.

"They're always late." Kairi said. She then turned to Namine. "So, what's it like dating a guy with chocobo plumes?" She giggled.

"I dunno. How does kissing a pineapple feel?" She retorted, with everyone sharing a laugh (except for Dayne, who just moan and panted again).

Kalyn grinned. "I'm glad to see my nickname has caught on so well."

Riku broke up the conversation. "Did you two get into contact with Tidus and the others yet." He asked Kairi and Namine. Both girls shook their heads. Riku wiped some sweat from his brow. He was probably the second least prepared for the heat, behind Dayne (though he was still doing miles better than him), dressed in a pale blue tank-top and khaki pants.

"That's it..." Dayne lurched to his feet. "I need to cool down, and I need caffeine."

"Yeah, you need caffeine. You weren't up until two in the morning..." Riku muttered.

"I told you, I'm sorry. You didn't have to do all that stuff." Kalyn said.

"No. It's alright. I promised I would do it to you..."

The others blinked at the two. "Um...What did you two get up to last night?" Roxas asked, a devious smile forming on his face.

It was at this moment that the Keybladers of Dawn and Water realized their faux pas.

"Nothing!" They snapped in unison. "It was nothing!"

Dayne shook his head at the sight. "Whatever. I'm going to get an iced coffee." He then walked off to the coffee house they had gathered in front of, the Wired Monk.

"He could have at least offered to get us something..." Roxas murmured.

Namine turned the conversation back on course. "Anyway, you sure that they know something, Riku? I mean, Tidus and the others." Namine had borrowed some short-shorts and a tank top from Kairi, although she found them a little big. It seemed just because they were once a Nobody and Somebody, didn't mean they were perfect mirror duplicates.

"Well, Dayne said it was possible for them to be...spiritually awakened. It's possible they actually saw the rift and what happened in the rift."

"You guys talking about Tidus and those guys?"

The group turned to see Sora and Roxas had joined them – dressed in shorts and tees, red for Sora, white for Roxas. Instantly, Namine and Kairi went up to hug the two, leaving Kalyn to shake her head.

"They've been apart, what? Twelve, thirteen hours?"

Riku replied. "To be fair, I think that might be the longest they've been apart." The brunette just snorted and continued to shake her head.

When the hugging was done, Riku went up to the two. "So, did you two get in contact with Tidus and the others?"

"Yeah." Roxas said. "That's why we took so long. Tidus phoned right before we left."

"And...?" Kairi asked the two of them.

"Well, for some reason, only our mom and dad and those guys were able to see that light show for what it actually was." Sora answered.

"All our families could see the rift properly, too." Kairi returned.

"Why's that?"

"Let the big guy explain when he gets back." Kalyn said.

Sora nodded. "Anyways, they want answers, obviously."

"Knew that would be coming." Namine said with a shrug. Kalyn groaned.

"How many times do you guys have to tell your story?"

"Way too often." Roxas chuckled.

"...But," Sora began, "But, I told them that we were still all banged up and whatnot from yesterday. So we get today to ourselves, and we're gonna tell them tomorrow at five, at my place." He smiled. "I figured, we could make it like, our victory party."

Dayne returned to the group, a cup of coffee ice slush in his hand. "What's this about a victory party?"

"Remember those people we met on the beach when we first came here yesterday?"

"You mean the kid who look like Meg Ryan, the guy with the stupid accent and that ridiculous hairdo, and the hyperactive girl who tackled Kairi?" Sora nodded. "Oh, great..."

"And it's not gonna be just them." Sora extrapolated. "They told a bunch of people, Tycho, Gabe, Amelia, Arc, Sakkee, Garnet, Rhys and Rhysa, Rydia, Irvine..."

Dayne rolled his eyes and groaned. "This island... Oh, by the way." He turned to the group. "I got a weird look from the girl behind the counter at the shop. She looked surprised...shocked to see me."

Roxas chuckled. "Well it could be any number of things. Your outfit, your eyes..."

Kalyn joined in. "His hair, his attitude, his face..." Dayne growled, irritably.

"I think it's his height." Sora broke in. Dayne looked at him as if to say "my height?" "Well," the blue-eyed boy began to explain, "The people of Salm, of these western islands, are usually genetically short. Like, Kairi is about the size of an average adult, and people like Riku and my dad, who are about six-feet, they're considered pretty tall. So you, you would be like a-"

"A freak..." The six-and-a-half-foot tall Dayne grumbled. "Of all the worlds, I had to come to superheated midget land..."

"Enough with the discussions and groaning." Kairi chirped in, hopping up and down. "It's time we get to shopping!"

She was answered by a chorus of six groans.

"I'm not that bad!"

* * *

><p>Two-and-a-half hours, eight stores, several thousand munny, and countless groans later, the group of Keybladers finished their shopping, and were heading out of the market district of Salm, to find a place to eat.<p>

All of them had changed shirts along the way, Kairi having found a vendor that was selling a variety of shirts with kanji characters written on them. Both Sora and Kairi thought it would be a good idea to get ones with the characters for their elements on them, dubbing the seven articles their "team shirts". So now, Sora was in a red shirt with the kanji for "Destiny" on it, Roxas in white with "Twilit" on his, Kairi and Namine in pink and white – respectively – each having "Light" branded on theirs. Riku's was a dark orange with "Sun" on it, Kalyn in sky blue with "Water" on her front, and Dayne was in a dark blue with his shirt being branded by a "Lightning" kanji.

"Hmm... Let's find a proper place to eat." Kairi saw Dayne eyeing a few food carts along the street. After the people who didn't have proper clothing – Dayne, Kalyn, Namine, and Roxas – Kairi had bought the most, compared to Sora and Riku, who bought barely anything. The redhead justified this by saying it had been months since her last splurge, but no one was buying it much.

"Hey, I got an idea." Roxas announced. "Why don't we got to All- I mean...why don't we go to my mom's place?" He was still getting used to the concept of actually having a mother.

"Good idea, Rox." Namine smiled back. The others shared similar sentiments.

"So...what? Is your mom like a waitress or a cook?" Dayne asked as the group made their way to said restaurant's location.

"Nope." Sora replied. "She owns it."

The Sand Sea had become a staple of Salm since it's creation fifty-odd years ago. Currently run by Allison Alleris, who's family had owned the restaurant since her grandfather's day, it had a reputation for being friendly to all customer, and for serving some of the best food to be found on the island. Although not fancy enough to be a high-class restaurant, it was far from some dive bar or greasy spoon diner, it had been successful since inception, and was popular enough to attract people to Salm for no other reason than to eat at the Sand Sea.

After stepping inside and getting a table from the hostess (Dayne noticing a "Help Wanted" sign up front, and Kalyn chuckling that the eatery shared the name with a tavern back in Rabanastre) their waitress came up to them rather quick enough.

"Good afternoon," A girl in her late-teens to early twenties with curly blonde hair, wearing a khaki skirt, and black golf shirt stepped up to the table, beaming, menus in hand. "Welcome to the Sand Sea, my name is Nicole and – Sora!" She gasped and smiled broader when she saw the spike-haired boy. "I haven't seen you in forever!"

Sora smiled up at the waitress. "Hey, Nicole." He stood up to meet her hug. "Still saving up for college?"

"Ya-huh." She broke the hug. "Seems I can't get away from working for you family. First I'm babysitting for you, now your mom's got me waiting tables." She looked past the younger teen. "Hey, Riku. Hi Kairi. Oh? Some new friends?"

"Um...I guess so." He turned around. "Nicole, this is Roxas, Namine, Dayne, and Kalyn. Everyone, Nicole." The strangers introduced one another, as Sora sat down, with Nicole passing menus around.

"So," the cheerful girl took out a pen and pad, "Can I start you guys off with some drinks or appetizers?"

"Yeah..." Sora spoke for the group, only vaguely looking at the menu. He practically knew it off by heart. "Can we get a plate of tostones to start, and I'll have an orange cream Salo."

"Cherry Salo, please." Riku ordered.

"I'll take a strawberry-kiwi." Answered Kairi.

As Nicole started to write down the orders, Dayne turned to the island natives. "What's this Salo stuff you're ordering?"

"It's a speciality soda brewed here on the island," Kairi explained. "It's really good. You guys should order a bottle."

"And you four?" Nicole turned to the newcomers.

"Black raspberry Salo." Namine said.

"Mango for me, please." Roxas followed.

"Um...I'll take a black raspberry, too." Came Dayne.

Kalyn scrutinized the menu, before answering slowly, "...Chocolate Coconut..."

Nicole nodded and smiled. "Okay. I'll be right back, everyone."

After Nicole left, Kalyn was the one to ask a food question. "So...what's a tostone?"

"They're unripe plantains, sliced thin and fried." Riku explained.

"Oh, so plantain potato chips." Dayne murmured, tapping his fingers impatiently, eyeing the menu. "W-what the heck is a spider sandwich?"

"That's the house speciality this time of year." Sora explained, cheerily. Seeing Nicole again had put him in a real good mood. It seemed he missed the islands more than he thought. "It's a whole soft-shell crab, deep fried, and put on a po' boy bun."

Dayne's eyes went wide at the description as he dropped the menu. "That sounds...delicious. Ungodly delicious..."

Everyone had a fair chuckle at his reaction. "Yeah. Trust me, it is as good as it sounds."

"Well, now that I know what I'm ordering," Dayne stood up, "I have something to take care of. Excuse me." With that, Dayne left the booth where they were sat, walking to wherever he was going; with Dayne it was hard to figure out his moves sometimes.

A few minutes later, Dayne returned, with a big smile on his face, swaggering to the table. "Well, I got a job today, people!" He declared as he sat down. "What did you do with your lives?"

"You got a job in ten minutes?" Riku questioned. "Where?"

"Here." Everyone craned their necks to see that Allison had joined them. "Again, I can't give you much work, Dayne. At least not until next month, but it should be enough for a living."

"I thank you all the same, ma'am." Dayne smiled back at her.

"Allison, please."

"Allison it is. Now I just have to find myself a place to live."

"Crap..." Kalyn swore, leaning back in the booth. "I guess I have to get on that, too."

"Kalyn, it's alright." Riku said to her. "You can stay at my place for a while." Roxas snickered at this, but Riku ignored him.

The Ivalician girl shook her head. "I know you're willing to, and that your mother says I'm not an imposition, but I can plainly see you don't have the room for me..."

"Why don't you stay with us?" Allison offered.

"What?" Kalyn, Roxas, and Sora all replied in a bit of shock.

Allison just smiled at the three. "Why not? We have much more space than Eira does at her place. More food, we bring in enough money, and we have that guest room that never gets used. We should be able to live comfortably with both Roxas and Kalyn added."

Kalyn just blinked dumbly at the offer. "This is...awfully kind of you, ma'am..." She was at a lost for words with this charity. "Th-thank you..."

"You're my son's friend, you're new here, and besides, it'd be nice to have another girl in the house." She gave a quick laugh, and then left for other business, leaving Kalyn mystified, but happy.

Nicole returned not long after that, with seven sodas in tall, chilled glass bottles, passing them out the patrons. "So, are you all ready to order?" The group nodded.

"A spider sandwich." Said Sora.

Dayne came next. "Make it two."

"Spicy beef stir fry," Roxas replied.

"I'll have the flounder." Kairi said, handing Nicole her menu.

"The seafood, tomato, and eggplant pasta," Riku ordered.

"The garden chicken, please." Said Namine.

"I'll try the... um...chicken and pork jambalaya?" Kalyn said, unsure of what she was exactly ordering.

With another smile, Nicole left to put their orders in. Kalyn sunk down in the booth, smiling again. It was an odd smile, as if she didn't know smiling was the right or proper thing to do.

The change in disposition was noticed by her companions. "You seem in a good mood, Kalyn." Namine noted.

"I just... I never expected everyone to be so nice to me." She mumbled. "I almost forgot...It's such a wonderful feeling..."

"Glad to see you not acting like a total bit – OW!" Namine had stamped on Roxas's foot. "Okay Nam, I'll play nice with the new girl." He said sarcastically.

"Hmm, this our only month of summer, guys." Sora said aloud, as if just realizing.

"Well, we seem off to a good start," Kairi said to her boyfriend. "We got to try and make the most of it. It looks like it'll be our only break in a while."

Sora nodded for a moment, before taking the unopened bottle of soda in front of him and raised it high.

"A toast?" Dayne scoffed.

"Why not? We got quite a bit to celebrate about." He gave the bottle a little tip. "To our victory."

Surprisingly, Kalyn was the first to join in, quickly lifting her bottle up to Sora's. "To the island of Salm, and all it's kind people..." She joined in a quiet voice.

Dayne rolled his eyes, but joined in nonetheless. "To the first vacation I've had in...well, I've lost count of how many years it's been."

Riku, Kairi, Roxas, and Namine joined their glasses to the others. "To summer vacation." Kairi cheered. "And let's make the most of it! Right?"

"Right!"

* * *

><p><em>Again, sorry for the lateness of this. LSD won't be a very plot-heavy fic, I'm trying to focus on the characters this time out. It's filler-like, but not fully filler, as some concepts are going to be introduced, and some characters are going to grow. Also, that victory party mentioned, will be taking place next chapter.<br>_

_Also, as a point of future reference, I have figure out the currency for this universe. 100 Munny is equal to one Gil, while one Gil is more or less on par with one Canadian Dollar._

_Anyways, I'm going to finish my final preparations for Cos & Effect. I'll be back whenever I am back. Sayonara bye-bye, everybody!_

* * *

><p><strong>Please Review<strong>

**SirAngelo**


	2. Newcomers

_Okay, so because this chapter was late, and running long, I had to cut a scene or two (or three) and those will be apart of the next chapter to be posted (It's 3:30 AM on Labour Day Monday, as of posting, cut me some slack)._

_The rumours are true, people. This series will be extended from six to eight chapters, due to the machinations and the wheeling and dealings of a fellow Canuck on this site._

_But, the real reason I have this preface is I have been working on the next fic in this series, and in my planning, I have decided to start a little contest for my readers. Here is how the contest will work: I am going to list seven worlds that will appear in my next fic, _Destiny Revolution Act 01: Heart's Fire, _and what I want you to do is send me a PM, telling me the source materials of these worlds. If you correctly name five out of the seven sources for these worlds, I will let you ask any one question about this fic that you can think of. And I will answer it truthfully, so if you want to avoid spoilers, you have been warned._

_The seven worlds are:_

New Orleans

Dwarf Woodlands

The Grand Line

Karakura Town

Detroit

Corinth

Criticverse

_And, as a further point of reference, the mediums of these seven worlds are as followed: One website/web original movie, two ongoing Manga published in Weekly Shonen Jump, one western animated television series, one live-action television series (produced by Disney), and two Disney Animated Films._

_Also, answers to the contest in reviews will be ignore. Private Messages ONLY._

_Anyway, good luck to you all, and enjoy the chapter. _

Newcomers

_Another nightmare._

_Dias Alleris often found himself plagued with nightmares. Not all the time, but frequent enough, coming and going every couple of months. Even wandering through the house now, a little past one in the morning, he could see the images whenever he blinked. The flames, the blasted wasteland, the face, laughing madly, as it was consumed by darkness..._

_Settling down in the kitchen for a few moments, a glass of water and a few deep breaths, he felt like he could go back to sleep for the time being, pray that another nightmare wouldn't come. Or, he could sleep, if not for an unknown sound echoing through the still spring night. A _swish-swish _of fast moving air, occasionally followed by a loud, solid _thunk.

Swish-swish, thunk. Swish-swish, swish-swish, thunk swish thunk.

_Whatever it was, it was aggravating, and Dias decided he needed to find the source and root it out if he was ever going to sleep tonight, bad dreams not withstanding._

Thunk swish-swish, swish-swish.

_He began to walk to the back of the house, towards the wooden porch on the grassy knoll that led down to the beach. A growth of trees and bushes grew from either side of the house, leaning more to the back and blocking out the stars in the sky. It made the night seem darker than it probably was._

Swish-swish, swish-swish, swish-swish, thunk. Thunk, thunk swish.

_Dias wasn't sure what to expect when he gazed out from the back door, hunting for the source of his annoyance. But he certainly wasn't expecting to see his seven-year-old son out in his pyjamas, striking at the trees in the growth with a torn off branch, furrowing his brow, working at his task with all the determination a seven-year-old could muster. He was sweating something furiously, he and his clothing were dirty and getting dirtier, the stick in his hand was splintering and cracking, and Dias could clearly see a couple of scrapes and bruises on his skin._

_Dias watched his boy for a few minutes, approaching him very slowly, like a hunter would approach his prey. When he came with ten feet of Sora, the boy looked back at him for a minute, before going back to his task, as if his father wasn't even there._

"_Hey, Sora?" Dias said, after a time. "What're you doing?"_

_Sora didn't respond for a few minutes, still furiously hacking at the trees that surrounded him. His swings were getting stronger, harder, and wilder. Eventually, with a two-handed swing, the stick he was using snapped in two, the broken half flying into the brush._

_Then he answered. "Training..."_

_Dias crouched down, balancing on the balls of his feet, watching his son as he searched for a new stick. "What for?"_

"_To get stronger...To protect people..."_

"_Why?" Again, Sora didn't answer immediately, still rooting around for a new stick for his task. Dias continued to watch him from the crouching position, studying his son's appearance and his task. "Are you being bullied again?"_

"_No." Sora replied, immediately and tersely._

"_Is it Kairi?" His son didn't answer, but Dias didn't need him too. "You really care about her, don't you?"_

"_No." Sora said again. "I just don't like to see her cry." He threw his stick into the bush, making an impatient sound, fed up with his futile quest to find another sword._

"_What do they do to make her cry?"_

_Sora didn't bother to look back at his dad, but just stared sullenly at his bare feet. "Pick on her. Everyday at recess and lunch... Make fun of her hair, that she's an orphan, that she's a girl. 'Cause she's a girl! They pull her hair and push her...steal her munny, her lunch...girls and boys..."_

_Still half-crouched, Dias moved a little closer to his son. "Why don't you just go to a teacher?"_

"_She has!" Sora shouted, frustrated. "She has. But they don't do anything. And then they just pick on her more the next day."_

_Dias regarded his son for another moment. "And you're certain beating them up with a stick is going to help."_

_Sora turned around to face his dad, and Dias could see why he had been standing away from him all this time. "I dunno...But it's better than nothing..." Tears were welling in Sora's big blue eyes._

_Son and father looked at each other for a long while, not saying anything. Sora fidgeted around, wiping the tears out of his eyes, but his dad stayed as still as stone, green eyes fixated on his son. After the long pause, Dias stood up, slapping both his hands on his thighs, saying, "Daddy's gonna do something real stupid..."_

_Walking back to the porch, Dias reached under it, pulling out a loose roll of canvas. He unfolded the canvas, and took two items from it: a long, straight pole of polished hardwood, and an old toy sword, the painting chipping, and various notches in the blade. "Here." He gave the toy sword to Sora, who gripped it in two hands. It was little bit two big for him. "That was my training sword when I was just a bit older than you. And this." He held up the pole, holding it like a sword. "Was what I graduated to as a teenager." He began to twirl the wooden sword in the palm of his hand, spinning it quicker and quicker, before he began swinging his arm as well, the sword becoming a red blur of a dervish as it moved all around him. Then, as quick as he began, he stopped the sword in his hand, slamming it down on the lawn._

_Sora looked at his father with wide-eyed admiration. "Whoa..."_

"_Yeah. I haven't hunted a fiend in twenty-years, but your dad still has it." Dias grinned. He then dropped to his knees, and put his hands on his son's sides. "Now, I'm going to show you a few things to help you protect Kairi, but I want to know: Do you know the difference between fighting someone and protecting someone?"_

_"Ya-huh." His son nodded. "When you fight someone, it only hurts people. But you protect people from being hurt."_

_Dias nodded, but didn't smile. "I don't want you to use this stuff to hurt people. Only bring up your sword to defend yourselves and the people you care about. Got it?" Sora nodded again. His father's tone indicated he was not to be trifled with on this matter._

_Dias picked up his sword again and walked to the side of Sora. "Alright, so start by making a stance for yourself." Dias told his son. Sora did as he was bid, standing with his legs apart, crouched low to the ground, his toy sword shooting off from his hip. "Right. Good. Whenever you start, go into that stance. And whenever you're not doing something, go back to it...And...well now, whenever you swing, make sure move your hips with the swing...put your whole body behind each swing of the sword...There. Just like that. You're small for your age, so you need all the advantage you can get. Now, let's see how you block with that..."_

* * *

><p>After the shopping trip and lunch, the group started to split apart and go there separate ways for the day, for a little R&amp;R after the previous day of non-stop battles, even though everyone still had one thing or another to do. Kairi and Namine headed home, with Namine apparently having some sort of secret errand to run, Dayne went off to go apartment hunting, and Kalyn going between Riku and Sora's homes, transferring her meagre amount of possession over with her, as she now found herself taking up residence in the Alleris family's guest room.<p>

The room was neither big nor small, very lightly furnishes, but still plenty comfortable. The twin sized bed was pressed up against a wall, dead centre in the room, opposite a single window that opened her view out to the ocean. A small desk and office chair occupied one of the corners away from her bed, a dresser moved up from the basement in another corner, and she found herself pleasantly situated just a door down from the bathroom.

By the time Kalyn moved between the two houses, and packed all her clothing up into her dresser, she was called for dinner, Kalyn and all four Alleris's sitting down at the kitchen table. With the exception of the two new bodies at the table (and, thus, less leftovers for tomorrow's lunch, to Sora's dismay) the proceedings were pretty much the norm from the perspective of Dias, Allison, or Sora.

"So, looks like I'm the one the paper's sending to the Gubernatorial Conference on Millenes at the end of the month." Dias declared. Allison plated the food for everyone; tonight's menu was yellowfin tuna – pan seared and served rare – with a salad of fresh lettuce and strawberries.

"I bet that's got you all excited, dad." Roxas chuckled, as he got his fish. After some earlier jitters, the blond seemed to be gelling into the family rather nicely. Both his new-found parents smiled at him.

"Eh, I'll just turn it down if I do get picked..."

"Oh no you won't, mister." Allison warned from across the table. She now had a bottle of white wine and was pouring a glass for herself, Dias, and Kalyn (she was fortunate she had been offered that concession, being nineteen after all). "You've been at the same position since before Sora was born, and you've turned down this Conference trip three times now."

Dias smiled at her, taking the wine. "You're just saying that 'cause you know I'll take you, and Aiden will take Julia, so while I'm stuck in a room with that pompous ass, you and Julia can go shopping on the strip." Kalyn took her glass as well.

"Maybe." She chirped, returning his smile with a coy one. Dias chuckled brightly.

Sora looked like he was about to say something, when Dias cut him off. "And you just want me to go so you can have the house to yourself for a week." Kalyn took a sip of the wine and was pleasantly surprised by the vintage. Bright and fruity, in contrast to the sour red that Dalmasca produced. In her short time on Salm, she already decided she really enjoyed the food.

"Why would I need that?" He returned. "Kairi will have her house to herself for that week, either way." Dias nodded at the reasoning. "No, what I was going to say is," he turned to his mom, "I'm having some friends over tomorrow night for a bit of a party. Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie sort of saw all of us when we teleported over here and they want answers."

"And I take it all three of you will be involved? Down in the basement?"

"Yep." Sora and Roxas spoke, Kalyn nodded after taking a bite of the fish. _Is every piece of food on this island this good? _She thought in joy, taking two more bites. _Or just everything that comes out of her kitchens?_

"Well, looks like we have time to ourselves tomorrow." Dias brought up. "Date night, Allie?" His wife smiled back at him.

"Why not? It's been sometime since we've had one."

Kalyn had finished her fish and was moving onto the salad, relishing it's sweet taste just as much as the fish.

"The old place down on the south beach?" Allison smiled and giggled a bit at the suggestion, but nodded nonetheless.

She took a quick look around the table, before turning to Kalyn, who had finished every scrap of food on her plate, and every drop of wine in her glass. "Oh, Kalyn. Would you like some more?"

The brunette looked thunderstruck at the simple question. "M-more?" She repeated. "Seconds?" Some nights, she barely got enough food to constitute a first. "I...no. I couldn't take advantage of your hospitality." She finally replied in a quiet voice. "Everyone else should eat more before the guest..."

"Nonsense." Allison rose and went back to the pan on the stove. "We have more than enough for all of us, and if you're still hungry, eat more." Before Kalyn could even argue, a second piece of tuna plopped down on her plate, and Allison was busy with the salad tongs. "My mother raised me with a simple creed. 'No one will go hungry under our roofs.' And I stand by that, to this day. Ask Sora, he sure hasn't gone hungry while he lived under this roof."

"Um...okay..." She was at a loss for words at this point. Two years of scavenging and hunting and scrounging every meagre Gil she could get her hands on...and now, she had been handed shelter and food and companions for nothing. What had she done to earn this?

At this point, Allison had plated the salad, and was now refilling her glass with the white. Kalyn stopped her futile arguing and ate her second helping with a thin smile on her face, a prayer silently moving past her lips.

_Thank you, whatever power is watching over me, for granting me this fortune..._

"Oh, Kalyn." Sora turned to her. He had just started his second helping (along with Roxas and his father), while she was halfway through hers already. "You don't have any spending munny on you, do you?"

"No." She answered.

"Well, I'll give you some of mine."

_I'll prove to you and myself that I do deserve this blessing..._

"No." She shook her head. "You don't have to do that."

"Come on, I have like 300,000 munny." He explained with a bit of a laugh. "Take some. I'll never be able to spend it all."

"300,000!" Allison cried in surprise. "Where did you get that much, Sora?"

"Fighting the Heartless." He explained. "They burst into munny when they're destroyed."

"Why?"

Sora paused for a second, trying to think up a good explanation or reasoning as to why Heartless exploded into cash when he killed them, besides 'Well, it happens in video games'. "I...really don't know. They just do."

"Um...thank you, pine-" She shook her head. She was wondering if she had ever called him his real name. "Thank you, Sora. Just, something like ten-thousand is fine... Don't spoil me..."

_Thank you for giving me a second chance._

She then looked up at Allison. "And I'll get a job. Pay for my time here. Pay you back...I will..."

Allison just smiled sweetly at her. Everyone was finished and full, so she and the boys were clearing the table. "Don't sweat it, dear. I'm actually planning for you to work at the Sand Sea after all my summer help returns to school." Kalyn nodded a little listlessly, before Allison brought out another tray of food. "Now, I made these last night, but you were all so tired that I didn't get a chance to serve them." She revealed the tray was full of homemade brownies. "A hero's reward for my two boys...and our guest."

Sora beamed. If there was one thing he missed travelling around the universe besides his mom's hugs, his mom's cooking, and his friends in general, it was his mom's deserts. He helped himself to two, ignoring the fact he admitted he was stuffed not five minutes ago. Roxas grabbed one, and Kalyn took one as well, looking at the baked square of chocolate curiously.

"What is it?" She asked, highly suspicious. She had a bit of an aversion to brown food.

"A chocolate brownie." Roxas said. Sora's face was stuffed full of the treat, so he was indisposed towards explaining. "It's a sweet. They do have sweets on that backwards desert of a world, don't they?" A wooden spoon came and smacked Roxas on the back of his head. "Ow! Mom..." Sora (and now Roxas) suspected that their mother had a bit of magic to her: the power to spontaneously summon wooden spoons to whack her misbehaving sons.

Kalyn wrinkled her face, eyes hardening, at the barb, before taking a bite of the desert. The first bite was all it took, as he eyes went as wide as they possibly could, sparkling with utter delight at the taste.

Ever since lunch, and her chocolate coconut soda, she had a hungering to know which of the two flavours had that quality of absolute bliss that made her taste buds sing and caused the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end.

It was chocolate.

Over the next twenty minutes, Kalyn did the impossible, matching Sora and his sweet tooth brownie for brownie, relishing in the sweet, foreign taste that was chocolate with every bite. When the meal was officially over, the two of them had devoured eight brownies between them, and Kalyn was actually smiling and laughing, like a girl her age should be.

She went to bed, full and warm and happy, sinking onto the soft mattress and pillow with a smile on her face. Even she was surprised that she had been smiling for so long. She really was tired of being angry all the time, and it felt good to smile. Edward had told her the reason why he was able to be a decent person despite the hand life had dealt him was because he had his brother and his goal, he had things that were important to him that he couldn't lose sight of. Was that why she was feeling so...not like her today? Had she found her something to fight for?

She sincerely and bitterly doubted that.

As she settled for the sleep, the same thoughts from the previous two nights returned: Had she done the right thing? Abandoning all those orphans in Rabanastre to chase after some pipe dream, some unknown goal? At first, she wasn't exactly sure. She wasn't sure those kids could survive on their own. But she had taught them well, at least in her mind. They were excellent at pickpocketing and gathering rumours and gossip and haggling with the vendors all over the city. The oldest could hunt and gather fairly well. Some had even learned stuff like juggling, and could perform for Gil.

Then she would worry if they had enough food and Gil and supplies, then she remembered how much of a tyrant she was when she looked over them. Her sister had watched over them out of charity and the kindness of her heart; she looked after them out of obligation to Mirelo, but she wasn't happy about it. She hated look over a pack of scared, whiny children. So, whenever they brought in Gil or food, she would take the lord's portion for herself, trying to make herself as comfortable as possible in this situation, and to hell with the orphans who did the work.

"Yeah." She told herself, quietly. "Yeah. They'll be fine. No greedy queen to take all their hard earned food and money. No one to force them to do something they don't want to do. Time for them to make their own path in the world."

She summoned Freedom, holding it above her prone figure.

_Just like me._

* * *

><p>"That'll be six-hundred, seventy munny. Plus tip"<p>

Sora paid the delivery man sent over from Perfect Pizza, before hurrying back downstairs for their little impromptu victory party. Five large pizzas – two meat lovers, a supreme, a ham and pineapple, and a vegetarian – two boxes of salt and pepper wings, and a flat of Salo in the basement fridge made for the refreshments, and now the guests just had to arrive.

Roxas and Kalyn were the only two other people in the house (their parents having left for their date about a half-hour ago), and were doing what they could to kill time until everyone else arrived. Which was apparently sweet dick all, as they were just sitting around in silence; Kalyn especially oddly dressed today, considering the climate, her hair done up in a neat, high ponytail, and wearing her loose silk pants again, but also wearing some new clothes she had bought yesterday.

Her top was covered with a white dress shirt, black vest, and a loosely done up red tie – all three of which she had pulled from the men's department at the store. She seemed to have taken a great liking to these clothes, as she vehemently argued with Kairi and two different sales clerks before she was able to walk out of the store with her finds.

Sora spread out the five pizza boxes on a table in front of the two couches and various chairs they had dragged down – he was worried their still wouldn't be enough seating for everyone. He then put the chicken wings on a platter, just as Kairi, Namine, and Riku arrived.

Roxas stood up to greet his girlfriend after their period of separation. "Hey, Nam, I – Wuh..." Roxas stopped, mouth agape and eyes open in surprise.

"Um...yeah." Namine blushed, shifting away shyly. "This was my errand..." A new addition had arrived on Namine's face. A pair of glasses: rectangular lenses with silvery glass-like frames. "Um...what do you think?"

"I think they look good, Namine." Sora replied, cheerily.

"I'm pretty sure she was asking Rox," Kalyn noted.

"Wearing that suit?" Kairi teased.

"Don't you start, Red..."

"Roxas?" Namine repeated, looking her boyfriend in the eye.

The blond teen instantly, and deeply, reddened.

"Looks like someone has a glasses fetish." Everyone turned to see Dayne had sauntered into the room. As Roxas began to splutter a retort, Namine blushing more, Dayne leaped over the back of a couch, landing on the cushions. "Well, I found an apartment. What have you people done with your lives?"

"So I finally get my house back?" Riku asked, sitting next to Kalyn.

"Yeah, you do. So stop your bitching." Dayne reached forward for a slice of meat lovers – pepperoni, capicola, and ground spicy sausage. It was instantly smacked out of his hand by Kairi. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Wait until everyone else arrives." She warned.

"Well, what about her?"

Kairi turned around to see Kalyn with a mouth stuffed with half a slice. "Kalyn!"

"Oh, settle down, Red." She swallowed. "Don't have a heart attack. I was just hungry."

"You're always hungry," Roxas pointed out. "You almost eat as much as Sora. I didn't know that was possible for a girl."

"Hey!" Both brunets shouted in retort.

A knock came at the door, ending the conversation abruptly.

Kairi and Sora showed the guests in, ushering them to take their seats (miraculously, there were enough for everyone). While the familiar ones to the group (Riku, Sora, and Kairi) were friendly in seeing them again, and Roxas and Namine shared a similar attitude to the others, Kalyn watched them with a neutral face, while Dayne just gave a slight glare.

Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie sat opposite the couch Dayne, Riku, and Kalyn were occupying, though it took some time to pry Selphie off Kairi, who was congratulating her on the relationship. Wakka and Tidus looked rather unsure about the proceedings.

Other sat on various stools and chairs gathered around for the party, mingling with one another or saying pleasantries to their friends. Vitriolic best friends and gamers Tycho and Gabe, the former with large, bushy brown hair and the latter with ink black hair done in a forward facing wave; cool and confident Irvine, chestnut hair done in a short ponytail; dark-skinned fraternal twins, Rhys and Rhysa, sitting together and between personal friends. Arc, with bright blond hair, came in nodding at the various girls in the room; Rydia, the girl with curly bright green hair, smiled at everyone – newcomers included – as she entered; Amelia, a second glasses-wearing girl with wavy blonde hair, walked in with a neutral face similar to Kalyn. Sakkee was a year younger than the rest of the group, pale of skin and black of hair; and Garnet could be considered the newest member of the group, a transfer student from a bit to the east, carried herself with an air of dignity.

After the mingling died down, silence fell over the group, with some sitting stone still, other looking very restless, and many more still lying in between the two extremes. The veil of quiet was broken by – who else? - Selphie Tilmitt. "...If this is a party, shouldn't we put some music on?"

"I don't like you already." Dayne declared, abruptly.

"Dayne!" Kairi admonished.

"What?" He sounded like he hadn't done anything wrong.

Already, Riku and Roxas were groaning, hiding their faces in their hands.

Sora stood up from his stool, electing himself to steer this gathering back on course. "Okay, everyone. We all know the other night you saw our fight in the portal. We're going to answer some of the questions you might." Before they left the Sand Sea yesterday, the group decided not to retell the entire story again. Just give them the key points on things like the Keyblade and other worlds, and filling in the blanks later on. "And introduce you to a few new people. So..." He motioned to the newcomers to Salm. "This is Dayne, Kalyn, Roxas, and Namine." He pointed to each one in turn, and then pointed to the other side of the room. "And for you all unaware, say hello to Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, Irvine, Rydia, Rhys, Rhysa, Sakkee, Garnet, Gabe, Tycho, Arc, and Amelia."

The two groups mumbled pleasantries, before Tidus, speaking for his group, asked the first question. "Wait, weren't there other people with you? The short guy, and armoured guy, and-"

"Donald, and Goofy, and Mickey, and Aqua." Kairi finished for him. "Well, first thing you should know, the stories are true. There are other worlds. Lots of them." The others buzzed in excitement. Kairi waited for them to finish. "Those people have gone back to their own worlds, and Kalyn and Dayne here, and me, and technically Roxas and Namine, all come from different worlds."

"And here I thought Riku was just crazy." Irvine piped up.

"That's so cool! What're they like?" Sakkee asked, Selphie quickly echoing her sentiment.

"Well...the world I come from is called the Radiant Garden." Kairi responded. "It's...beautiful, to say the least. Or at least from what I've seen of it. I can't remember anything before Salm still, but I really liked the time I spent there."

"You better like it." Dayne finally spoke up again. "You have three years. That is, if you're birthday still is the eighteenth of August."

"Huh?" Selphie looked confused, but then again, so did Kairi.

Dayne explained. "By the laws of the Garden, you cannot take the the throne until you're nineteen years of age."

"'Take the throne'?" Rydia repeated, gear running in her head. "Wait? Does that mean?"

"Kairi's a Princess!" Selphie flew across the room, tackling Kairi down with a leaping hug, laughing while crushing her best friend. "That's amazing! I always knew there was something special about you!"

Selphie continued to natter on and on, breathlessly, leaving Dayne and Kalyn, new to the phenomenon known as Selphie, clueless. "Is she always like this?" Dayne asked.

"Always." Tidus confirmed.

"Her bouncing is quite nice, though, if you catch my drift." Arc said with a smile.

"Oh, how lovely..." Amelia replied sarcastically.

After Kairi pried Selphie off of her, the Q&A continued. "So, there are other worlds, yah?" Wakka began, opening a bottle of Salo. The party-goers seemed to have settled down a bit, eating and drinking while listening and answering. "But, how do you know about them? And what was that big fight thing we saw?"

Once again, Sora spoke up. "Well, that's where things get complicated. Across the worlds, there are these creatures called Heartless that going about destroying worlds. This world was destroyed around two years ago – I saved it, don't worry." He jumped in quickly after seeing some worried faces. "We're not stuck in some bizarre purgatory or anything. But anyways, the point I was trying to make, when the Islands were destroyed, I got this." With a pulse of light, Destiny Heart appeared in his hand. "The Keyblade."

"Whoa..." Rhys said. "What a weapon."

"Yeah..." Rhysa agreed with her twin. "And...it just came out of nowhere. Like magic."

"And I'm not the only other Keyblader, either." Sora went on. "I've been going around the worlds, and fighting the Heartless and any other villains that get thrown at me, but I've been making other Keybladers, too. Like these guys." A flash of pink, and Radiant Crown appeared in Kairi's grasp. A gold nimbus proceeded Riku's Dark Before Dawn. Two airy wisps surrounded Roxas's hands – black and white – before Bond of Flames and Thirteenth Remnant were called. A silvery chain surrounded Namine's hand, leading to the creation of Chain of Memories. Blue sparkles in the shape of water droplets formed around Kalyn before Freedom came out. Electricity gather around Dayne's clenched fist, before it opened up, Butterfly Rain filling the space.

"My world!" Tycho exclaimed. "This is simply beyond words. My mouth is positively agape!"

"'Agape'?" Questioned Gabe, frowning.

"It means 'open'."

"Well, you know what also means 'open'? _Open_!"

"So, you're like some kind of hero, huh, Sora?" Tidus asked his friend.

"I guess." Sora said with a nervous smile. The Keybladers each dismissed their weapons.

"But, yeah, guys. That's pretty much it." Riku quickly surmised. "We have Keyblades, we save the universe."

"Who's this 'we'?" Sora questioned. "Last time I count, the first two times were all me."

"You would be suet right now if I didn't take that blow from Xemnas." Riku countered.

"That blow didn't even cut you!" Sora returned. "And I think you were faking that limp. You were walking just fine when we got back to the islands."

"I don't get no props?" Dayne broke in, with his usual swagger. "Who beat Cassius the Perfect – solo, I might add?"

"Who got his ass kicked by the other four forms of Cassius?" Kairi returned with a cat smile.

"Oh, yeah. Well, did I ever tell you guys about the time I got baked into that giant pizza?" Roxas spoke up. His comment proved to be so ludicrous and outlandish, that everyone was stunned into silence and almost perfect statue stillness.

"...Did that actually happen?" Sakkee finally asked. She was afraid to ask because for all the group knew, it could be true.

"Nah, I just wanted to see the look on your guys's faces." Roxas laughed, which was answered by a roar of laughter from the others.

After the laughter died down, Tidus looked to his group for a moment, a bit of a serious glint his eyes. He then faced the Keyblade Wielders. "Now, one last thing guys." He began, his voice at odds with the wave of laughs that proceeded him. "We saw that fight. We saw what you guys do, and... There's something going down, isn't there? Something big?"

After a moment's pause, Namine spoke for the seven. "Yeah. There is."

"What?"

"We...don't really know, ourselves." Sora honestly replied. He tried not think about what came next, after the Immortals. Something was coming, though. Aqua's warnings were grave, and there had to be a big reason as to making so many Keyblade Warriors. When he saw the faces were disappointed at his explanation, he added, "That's just part of being a Keyblade Master guys. You're always in the dark about stuff."

"Crap...I thought that was just that one time..." Kalyn cursed under her breath.

"Well, whatever the case," Tidus started up again, once again speaking for his group. "Something _is_ coming. And we don't want to have to sit and watch you guys go through...that again! So we don't feel totally useless when you're off saving the universe. We all talked this out, and we want you guys to train us."

"What?" Riku questioned. No one was willing to risk more loved ones against the darkness, he could easily tell by a quick glance.

"Train us." Tidus reiterated. "Teach us how to fight properly. Teach us how to do some of that crazy stuff we saw you do." The blond was practically pleading by this point. "Teach us how to help!"

Awkwardly, Sora, Roxas, Kairi, Namine, and Riku looked to one another, each unsure how to respond, and hoping the other had some sort of answer. No one had any talent at training or any idea of where to start with the thirteen teens. Eventually, Sora started to spoke, slowly and clearly unsure of what to do. "Tidus, listen..."

"I'll do it."

The heads of every teen in the room turned at once towards the speaker: Dayne. "You'll do it, Dayne?" Kairi asked, herself a little stunned Dayne would voluntary so abruptly. The rest were more than a little stunned.

"Yep." Dayne said with all the weight of a man picking out a breakfast cereal. "I mean, why not? I'm gonna have a lot of free time this month, and I do have the most combat experience amongst all of us, plus actual military training." A wicked grin then crossed his face. "Actually, speaking of, my last military evaluation said I would make a good drill sergeant." He chuckled darkly to himself, while a few others chuckled nervously.

"Great..." Tidus said, a little unsure of what he had gotten the group into. "When do we start?"

"We're going to be training every Friday, Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday." Dayne laid out, sounding very professional and much like an actual soldier, his voice clear and crisp. "Starting tomorrow. You're choice as to when we train at nine in the morning, or seven at night. Seven, I assume?" A few of the teens nodded. "Alright. See you tomorrow, seven sharp, outside on the beach here, alright?"

A few chills ran up Kairi's spine at the way Dayne delegated the sessions. It reminded her a little of her time back in December, and of a woman named Ember...

Selphie raised her hand, like she was in a classroom. "Before this party officially starts, I have one more question." She pointed to Kalyn and Riku. "Riku and, Kalyn, right? Yes. Well, after finding out that Sora and Kairi FINALLY got together – which is awesome, by the way – I have to ask. Are you two a couple?"

"NO!" They both snapped back together.

"Really?" Selphie raised an eyebrow. "Usually my intuition is spot on about this stuff..."

"We're just friends, Selph." Riku brought up hastily. "That's all."

"Really, man?" Rhys said. "'Cause I've never seen you this relaxed around a girl other than Kairi." Riku glowered at the dark-skinned teen.

"Is this all you people do?" Kalyn broke in, sounding rather bored. "Natter on about relationships? If so, making a run to the store for more chocolate seems a more exciting venture." Between the time she got up and now, Kalyn had ran to the local convenience store twice to load up on her new addiction.

"Here." Roxas tossed her a bottle of chocolate coconut Salo. "And we have a whole whack of ice cream for desert, too – chocolate included. So stop your whining and have some fun."

Garnet blinked at the short exchange. "I guess not all heroes got along, huh?"

"No, Kalyn's just been boarding with Sora and Roxas." Namine explained. "Close quarters, I guess."

"It's just cause he's an uptight, ornery little fellow," Kalyn said breezily, between sips of her soda. "Least pineapple head here knows how to have a good time." She added, waving to Sora.

"Bah! Pineapple head!" Tidus chuckled. "It's perfect!" Others laughed, too.

"I still don't get that name." Sora mumbled under the laughter.

"Well, there is your ridiculous hair." Rydia pointed out with a smile.

Arc nodded. "And you are sorta soft up there," He walked up to Sora and rapped his knuckles on the side of his head. "Like a pineapple. Personally, I'm surprised you managed to get a girl, like Kairi. Longstanding crush notwithstanding."

"Glad to see you haven't changed over the summer, Arc." Kairi returned, shaking her head.

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm happy for you guys. But, yet another girl is off the market, which seems to be a bit of a trend lately."

"Yeah, one last girl off the market, that turns your chances from zero to...zero." Amelia said in a pithy manner, causing the blond to deflate and sigh.

"Hey, wait a moment." Rhysa spoke up. "You said Roxas and Sora are living here."

"Yeah..." Rhys nodded, looking between Sora, Roxas, Kairi, and Namine. "And now that I look at it, sis, they sorta look familiar. Like twins."

"Well, that's sort of how it is." Kairi replied. "Through a long chain of unlikely events involving terms and crap that you wouldn't understand and that we don't want to explain right now, Roxas and Namine are pretty much twins to Sora and I, respectively." She then paused and murmurred. "Still don't know how we'll legally explain that one..."

"You!" Selphie jumped from her seat and pointed right at Kairi. "I almost forgot about you! We have a score to settle!"

Kairi sighed a bit. "Right. The score." She turned back to her boyfriend. "Mind if we set up the pads?" He shrugged.

"That's what they're there for."

Like Riku and Sora, Selphie and Kairi had an ongoing friendly rivalry between the two of them (Kairi was the Riku in this case; she almost always won), but there was much more benign than sword-fighting or trying to impress Kairi. The most common contest between the too was a round of _Dance Dance Revolution_, either in the arcade, or on a home console port, one of which Sora owned.

Setting up two large and colourful plastic mats in front of a small TV set, the girls began round three-hundred and ninety-four of their duel, hopping and bouncing along to a perky, bubbly techno-pop beat. The party-goers had begun to drift off into their own groups, but Sora was acutely aware that the girls were not the only things in this game that were 'bouncing'. He was further aware that a few of the other guys were aware of this, too.

_Look away, look away, look away._ He thought furiously, glaring down a few of the other guys. He was hoping that the confirmation of their relationship would make one of the more desirable girls on Salm less desirable. He was wrong. _Look at Selphie, damn it! She wants the attention. She wants a boyfriend._

"_Green is not a very good colour on you, Master."_ Reina advised her young Keyblade Master.

Sora crossed his arms._ Cut me some slack, I'm new to this dating thing in a public setting._ The only other men they had spent significant time with since they started were Riku, who seemed to have recognized he has a purely platonic relationship with Kairi, Dayne, who was like her third father, and Roxas, who's relationship with Kairi mirrored Sora's with Namine. He never really realized this issue was an all too real possibility when they got home. _Maybe I should smack 'em around with the Keyblade. You know? Put the fear of God in them._

Instantly, Reina huffed, affronted. _"As much as you love her, my vessel is not meant to be used in such a matter!"_

_I'm just kidding, Reina._

"_My apologies. But, as a warning, I do not take kindly to jokes about the Keyblade. Just a...quirk, of mine."_

"Hey, Sora." Sora jumped as Tycho put an arm on his shoulder. "You look like you're trying to bore a hole through that wall with your gaze."

"Oh, sorry, Tycho." He chuckled with a smile. "Just thinking."

"'Thinking'?" Gabe cut in. Wherever Tycho was, the black-haired teen was not far. "That don't sound like the Sora I know. The Sora I know likes to sleep in class."

"Very funny, Gabe..."

"Well you were never the pontificating one," Tycho said in his very Tycho-like manner. "But, back to the topic at hand-"

Gabe quickly and energetically cut off Tycho, picking up for him as well. "Tycho got a bunch of Dungeons & Dragons stuff! He's gettin' a game together. Wanna join in?"

Sora had been introduced to Dungeons & Dragon – or D&D for those in the know – when he was around eight. His dad sat down with him every so often that school year as a disguised attempt to improve Sora's math skills, problem solving, and vocabulary to try and help his slumping grades in school. It actually paid off in the end (though Sora was wishing there was a D&D supplement that involved Shakespeare or polynomial problems) and he had actually liked the game as well, well enough to continue playing every so often, usually with Tycho in the group.

"Wait? You're playing Gabe?" He nodded back at Sora. "Didn't you spend the entirety of grade eight calling it 'Dungeons & Douchebags'?"

"We're playing fourth edition." Tycho pointed out with a flat tone.

Sora inclined his head in understanding. "Ah. Well, yeah. I'd love to join in. Just like old times."

"You guys talking about rolling twenties?" Dayne said, as he approached the group. "Count me in!"

"You play, Dayne?" Sora asked with arched eyebrows.

"I was in the military, you know." The tall man replied, as if that was a good enough answer. He then continued on. "It's a very popular game in the military 'cause it offers a bit of escapism, and all you need are dice, pencil, paper, and a decent understanding of the rules."

"Good to have another veteran on the squadron." Tycho nodded in approval. "I shall act as Dungeon Master for this game, but of course. Now we just need a few more player characters for me to torture." He gave an evil grin, which quickly vanished. "I find 4e plays best with five or six in the party."

"Um...do you mind if I join?" Everyone turned to see Namine had joined their loose circle, having asked the question in a small voice.

"Really Nam?" Sora asked back, a little surprised that the flaxen-haired girl wanted to play.

"Well, yeah." She said in a smallish voice. "I mean, I have to do something with myself this summer. Have a little fun."

"How can you have fun playing that dumb game?" Came Selphie, huffing and puffing on the DDR mat, clearly losing to Kairi. The two were on their fourth song in the set. "It's summer people. And in summer, you're suppose to do summery things!" She stamped her foot off the mat for effect.

Everyone else was used to this behaviour from the bouncy brunette, but Dayne just stared at her, bewildered. "Is there some kind of medication you should be on?"

"You're guess is as good as mine, my towering alien." Tycho spoke to Dayne, before facing Namine. "But you're welcome to join us, Namine."

"Hey, you didn't tell me that there were girls who actually played this game." Came Gabe from the other side of the loose circle. Tycho shrugged.

"Once in a blue moon, my friend."

"Make that twice, Tycho." Amelia walked into the ring, nodding confidently. "I would like to try my hand at this as well. I mean, you're always going on about this stupid game at school, about time I see what all the hubbub is." She cocked her head sideways. "And about time I finally learn what 'taming the Purple Worm' means."

"Oh, you're not ready for the Purple Worm..." Tycho warned, dead serious as if the game was as real as Sora's adventures.

"You know, you make it really easy to make a joke, Ty." Arc was the next one to join the circle, between Amelia and Namine, smile on his face. "I'd like to play, too."

"So two girls is the limit for you, huh Arc?" Amelia put forth, a thin smirk on her lips.

"Nonsense." He waved the statement off. "It's like our new girl said, got to do something with our summer." He then spun on his heel a little flamboyantly, facing Namine with a warm and charming smile. "Speaking of... I was wondering if you would like to a do something this summer, together?" Namine blushed a bit, shrinking away in surprise as well. "You look like a girl who appreciates fine theatre, and as it happens, I have tickets to Bard on the Beach this year."

"Please, but, no..." Namine stammered, still red in the face. "I mean, it's nice of you, but..."

"Please consider this: you, me, a blanket in the park, watching a wonderful performance of _Taming of the Shrew_. Or if you would like a tragedy, they're also putting on _Othello_. What do you-" Arc was stopped when a tap came onto his shoulder.

"Hi," Roxas introduced himself in a faux cheery manner. "The name's Roxas. Nice to meet you, Arc. And, well, it looks like you've already met Namine, my girlfriend."

At the magic G-word, the charming smile dropped right off Arc's face as his eyes whipped between the two blonds. "Oh...jeez, I'm sorry...I..." He cleared his throat, trying to maintain his cool. "If I knew you two were a couple, I never would have dreamed of saying those things." He turned back to Namine. "I'm so sorry about that mistake, Namine." The lover boy wannabe let out a nervous laugh.

"Um...it's okay, Arc." She said, graciously as she could manage. Her face was returning to it's normal shade, and she was actually smiling a bit. "I've never been hit on before, so...it was kind of flattering. But don't do it again, please."

"Of course." He gave a slight incline of his head, before quickly changing the subject. "So...uh...Ty, when are we gonna start this thing?"

"All of you show up to my home on Saturday, around eight." Tycho told him, and the group. "We'll do character creation and maybe I can explain a few of the changes to this edition, and educate our new players."

Back on one of the couches, Kalyn sat firmly rooted to one of the cushions, just surveying the party silently, doing her best to take in as much information as she could. Her introduction skills were...rusty, as Ed could attest when one of the first actions Kalyn did upon meeting him was fling her helmet at the alchemist. As such, she was a little less than eager to try and meet these people.

But the reverse wasn't true, as both Sakkee and Rydia sat down, flanking her on the coach. "Hi there!" Sakkee greeted cheerfully. "Kalyn right?" The girl from Dalmasca nodded. "I'm Sakkee. And that's Rydia. Nice to meet you." She held out her hand.

"...you too." Kalyn said slowly, taking the hand and shaking it.

"So, do you mind telling us a little about you?" The green-haired girl asked, in a similar happy tone.

Taking the phrase literally, Kalyn expounded her past in a completely flat, atonal, almost emotionless manner. "I grew up in a kingdom called Dalmasca, in the capitol city Rabanastre. When I was seventeen, my country was involved in a war with the Archadian Empire, where we lost and were subsequently occupied. Riots in the city followed, in which both my parents died. My sister presumably died a year later when she left the city to gather supplies in the desert. I was then left charge with a group of orphans my sister was taking care of, and I used them to steal and rob Imperials, waging a shadow war against them, living off scrap of Gil and whatever food we could get our hands on."

Both Sakkee and Rydia just sat there, looking blankly at the new girl, halfway able to process what she had said, but just utterly lost in her delivery and why she brought it up. "Um...got any hobbies?" Sakkee tried feebly, still mystified by the brunette.

Kalyn returned the blank look, before leaning back on the couch, going back to watching the party. Kairi and Selphie were about finished there game, with Kairi so far gone in the lead, all Selphie could do is fight back from a blowout. Dayne and Tycho were off in a corner, in a heated argument ("Are you kidding? Pathfinder sucks! Everything having to do with third edition is so unbalanced and broken it's not even worth playing." Dayne shouted down at the teen. "AD&D could kick the asses of third, 3.5, and Pathfinder while blindfolded and drunk!"). Sora and Gabe seemed to be in the middle of an eating competition, both trying to stuff as many chicken wings in their mouth as possible. At least she hoped it was an eating competition. But she finally saw something of interest, with Riku off in another corner with a few of the other guys.

Wakka was sitting on a chair, Riku opposite of him on a stool, a small table in between them, fists locked tightly together, elbows planted on the table. Tidus, Rhys, and Irvine were gathered about watching the arm wrestling competition, as Kalyn left the still semi-stunned Sakkee and Rydia to watch the boys. Wakka was at a clear advantage, being built like the offspring of a bull and a brickhouse, and it only took him a few minutes to put Riku out of his misery.

"I would swear you take steroids, Wakka..." Riku muttered, rubbing his arm. "A teenager shouldn't legally be allowed to be that strong..."

"Oh, don't be a sore loser, ya." Wakka smirked, though he was rubbing his arm, too. "I beat ya fair and square." He looked up at the other three boys. "All of ya."

"Yeah, yeah, you meathead." Tidus chuckled in a deflecting manner. "Just wait until blitz season at school, I'll show you the score."

"You two still obsessed with that silly sport?" Irvine asked.

"It's not silly!" Tidus said, defensively. "Blitz is life!"

"You're so gonna join a cult when you're older." Irvine shook his head despairingly. "Tidus, Scion of the Cult of Blitz! And his First Disciple, Wakka the Man-Bull!"

"Hey!"

"Relax, you two. Just getting a rise out of you." The ponytailed teen smiled. "Heh, which is easy I might add. But, the real point is, even our super soldier of the sunrise can't beat Wakka in arm wrestling."

Riku murmurred back at that. "That's the Warrior of the Dawn...And I'll beat him one day."

"Mind if I try?" Kalyn asked innocently as she approached the boys and their squabble. Riku looked up in start.

"Really?" She nodded back at him, so he offered his seat.

As she was sitting across from him, Wakka squinted at her. "I dunno. I don't really like the idea of facing a girl. I mean, how strong are you anyway, ya?"

Kalyn sighed, flexing arm as well. Apparently waging a shadow war against a conquering empire gave a teenage girl a physique comparable to both Tidus and Irvine. "I'm plenty strong. And don't look down on me 'cause I'm a girl." She slammed her arm onto the table, putting it in position for the contest. "Or...are you afraid that I'll beat you?" She gave a cocky smirk, knowing he wouldn't back down now.

"Fine!" Wakka shot back, a little ticked. The right-handed Blitzball player put his left arm on the table. "I'll make this a little more fair for you, ya?"

"That tic of yours is already starting to annoy me." She bristled back, clasping hands together. "You better not use this as an excuse when I beat you."

"I won't"

"Ready you two?" Riku asked, taking upon himself to judge. "Then let's start!"

As soon as Riku signalled for the match to begin, Wakka put up a very feeble resistance. She looked to be about as strong as Tidus, and he could beat him with ease. He found out how much of a mistake that was, when within half a minute from the start, his arm was about two inches from hitting the table! Kalyn flashed a confident smirk across the table, as she continued to slowly press Wakka's arm further and further town. The large teen began to sweat a bit, arm trembling as he tried to fight back, but all he could do was stem Kalyn's progress, putting them at a stalemate, though Wakka was still dangerously close to losing. After several minutes of this lock, Kalyn's stamina did give out, giving Wakka a brief moment to gain control. In fact, he gained so much control, he went from the verge of defeat, to pinning Kalyn's arm to the table, hard.

"Damn!" Kalyn winced after the match, rubbing her arm. "Almost had you."

"Ya..." Wakka sighed, having maintained his dignity. "But that was a good one, you know? I wanna have a rematch with you one day. You're pretty tough. For a girl."

"Heh." She spat out brusquely. "You're not too bad yourself. With that hairstyle I expected you to be a bit of a pansy." Wakka let out a snort of laughter at that.

Meanwhile, Rydia and Sakkee were watching, still on the couch. "She's... and odd one, isn't she?" Sakkee announced to her friend. "Then again, I'm not all too normal my self. But, still..."

"I guess she need some time to adjust." Rydia summed up. "New world and all. Can't be all too easy for her."

Back at the DDR mat, Kairi and Selphie finally completed the ten song set, Kairi spinning around on her heel and flashing the v-sign with both her hands. "Woo! Chalk another one up for me."

"Crud..." Selphie fell on her back, breathing heavily. "Crud...That was brutal. How the hell did you get so good? I mean, you always beat me, but...wow."

"Do you happen to be the Keyblade Master of the Dance or something?" Garnet asked with a playful smile. "Or is the Radiant Garden known for producing masterful DDR players?"

"Ha, ha, Garnet, very fun." Kairi stuck her tongue out at the exchange student. "I wasn't just spending my first half of the summer running around the universe and kissing Sora." She turned off the TV set and game console. "I was also getting one hell of a work out." It was true. Although a regular in the circuit of amateur sports around the islands – playing softball, volleyball, and being a well-trained gymnast, dancer, and swimmer as well – so she was always in good shape. But nowadays, the Keyblade hadn't just granted her magic and better control of her natural light, but also put her in the best shape of her short life.

"Speaking of work out," Rhysa jumped in. "We've been missing you on the softball field this summer, Kai. The Red Sox just aren't as good without their red hot pitcher." Kairi shook her head. She always hated that nickname. "Any chance of seeing you at volleyball this year? If not, you have to teach me that serve of yours."

Kairi shook her head. "Sorry, Rhysa." She then paused, looking over at Sora for a moment. He was talking with Tidus and Wakka now, catching up on the ongoing pro Blitzball season, which he had missed most of. "I think I'm going to limit the extra-curricular stuff this year. Maybe do the play. But I just want to enjoy myself for once, and not have to balance school and half a dozen sports."

"Whatever Her Majesty desires." Rhysa giggled a little, before giving a deep, sweeping bow to Kairi, with Selphie joining in.

The redhead bristled. "Don't do that. Please! I'm still the same Kairi as always."

"Except now we find out you're heir to an alien kingdom," Garnet pointed out.

"And probably super rich! And you and Sora finally closed the deal!" Selphie added.

"And you're apparently this awesome warrior, capable of kicking all kinds of ass with sword of shield.," came Rhysa.

"Take it from your BFF, Kai, you've changed." Selphie said. "Like, a lot."

_Again with the change..._ Kairi was beginning to notice a theme here. She was wondering if the universe was conspiring against her. "Whatever. People change. It's just part of life." She went to the fridge and took out a bottle of Salo, before grabbing the last slice of vegetarian and another one from the meat lover's box.

"Not you." Selphie pressed down on the point. "Not Kairi Minami. Not the mayor's precious little girl who always does her best to please daddy. Bending over backwards just to get his approval, no matter how ridiculous the lengths she has to go-"

"Selphie, I get it. Enough!" The warrior Princess snapped, a small aura of pink fire momentarily flickering around her. Selphie squeaked in fright, hopping away from her friend. Fortunately, only she, Rhysa, and Garnet saw. "I... Never mind." She put on a smile for them. "Sorry for snapping." She half-lied. "I'm just a bit tired is all. That's why I'm breaking from all the sports. It's nothing, really."

"Okay!" Selphie chirped, as if nothing went wrong. "Now, it's your birthday this month, _and_ it's your Sweet Sixteen! We gotta plan something big. Something glorious!" Selphie's motor-mouth started to kick into high gear, Garnet and Rhysa slinking off, as Kairi spent the remainder of the party pinned by the verbal assault of her childhood friend.

_Well, at least everyone else is having a lot of fun._ She thought, half miserable, half joking.

* * *

><p><em>Running water. I don't think I'll ever be able to live without you again.<em>

Kalyn stepped out of the shower, a thin veil of steam floating about the bathroom. She was already beginning to settle into a groove after her short time on Salm, and she had already picked up a bathroom ritual. She always dried and combed her hair first, standing stark nude in the bathroom, enjoying the mirrored sensation of the hot water on her body slowly evaporating, her warm skin coming into contact with the cool air from the fan and AC, as well.

She admitted to herself on this morning, that she originally had some reservations about living on Salm, not going back to Ivalice, but she was past that now, it seemed. She made peace with the orphans she left behind, she got to go to bed with a full belly every night, and while some aspects of the social life alluded her still, she admitted that the people here were nice, whether they confounded her or not.

_Now to find that something. My something to fight for..._

"Oh, man! This is gonna be a close one!"

The bathroom door flew open suddenly, and a second after, both Kalyn and the intruder were both left paralysed by the turn of events.

"K-Kalyn! You...I! I mean, I..." Sora stammered and stuttered tripping over her own tongue.

It took him around ten seconds to cover his eyes, blocking out the nude Ivalician before him.

Kalyn snapped out of her paralysis when she realized this, but she seemed to be having her own issues with forming words.

"You little...! I am...! BAH! Pineapple head!"

The water vapour left over from the steam collected into a solid ball of water around her fist. With her free arm over her breasts, and legs crossed to hide her core as best as she could manage, she punched with the other fist, the water sphere unleashing, flying outward in a powerful stream. It took Sora full in the face, sending him flying out beyond the bathroom's threshold and into a nearby wall, where he collapsed with a loud _thud_.

"Knock next time you bloody idiot!" She screamed before slamming the door shut.

_Oh great..._ Sora thought in a daze. _Who's gonna kill me first? Riku or Kalyn?_

"_Riku."_ Reina replied. _"She had the chance to kill you now, but she didn't."_

* * *

><p><em>Not much else to say, just hope you enjoyed, and I hope the next update won't be too long. Also, I now really want to write a fic where the Organization – as much as I have my issues them – play Dungeons &amp; Dragons.<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Please Review<strong>

**SirAngelo**_  
><em>


	3. The Adult's Way of Life

_Okay, so the TGS 2011 is marching along the way, and more of Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance has been show. I'll keep my thoughts short, since everyone else has said their piece. Neku from "The World Ends With You" shall be appearing in the game, which is rather cool, or it could be Nomura stroking his ego (or stroking something else, if you catch my drift...). Also, both Riku and Sora get new designs. Sora's look fine but...Riku. Dear god! He looks like a girl! He has Aqua's hairstyle with Fuujin's colour. It's stupid. I always thought Riku should be a girl, and this just helps my crazy case._

_Riku: You WHAT!_

_Pipe down, Rika... Also, to all my readers over 19 years of age, I'd like to point you to a wonderful site called The Drunken Moogle - I love the name, too! - that hosts a variety of recipes for video game themed cocktails, as well as video game drinking games. To all you lovebirds out there, you can actually share a paopu fruit cocktail. Me and my friends are gonna give these a whirl this weekend, I think I'll go for an Anti-Sora._

_If you are under the legal drinking age for you country, disregard the last paragraph._

_Also, remember the contest from last chapter (refer to A/N of last chapter for details). So far **ShireFolk, InfiniteFreedom, **and **Sakkee** have gotten it correct. Freedom, still waiting on your question, by the way!_

_Also, WHY DO YOU GUYS ALL HATE ME! I've had my Facebook group active for 10 months and only have 7 fans! Shire has had his page for a week and has triple the fans! WHY DO YOU HATE ME! Please join the group! The link is on my front page._

_Kairi: Do it guys, or we all have to live with his whining.  
><em>

The Adult's Way of Life

"_Here's another one." Dias dropped the cardboard box onto the hardwood floor, a loud metallic clanging coming from it. "How many boxes of kitchen supplies do you own?"_

"_Hey, easy with that!" His wife admonished, gently slapping his arm. "And, obviously I own a lot, because I'm a restauranteur."_

"_Well, there's still like twenty boxes in the van." The younger Dias wiped the sweat off his brow. Moving was nothing more than a pain, and he hoped and prayed he never had to move again in his life. "And I'm the one who has to hump those things in here." But life was all about change, and the latest change dictated the couple would have to move from their tiny apartment to a proper house. "Could we at least call Neir to help or something?"_

"_Really?" Allison Alleris chuckled, as she slowly continued with her task: opening boxes already hauled into the house, and sorting the contents, before storing them where they belonged. She was already in love with her new home: a beach-side rancher, wonderful view of the ocean, close to town, to the schools, to everything essential, really. "The big strong fiend hunter – who once lifted a Behemoth over his head, mind you – can't carry a couple of boxes in?"_

"_That was a while back. I'm an old man now."_

_She laughed at that. "That was hardly three years ago, you lazy ass"_

"_Well...best get to it then." He conceded to his wife of only one year, arching his back a bit. "Can't have you doing it, now can we?" She smiled slightly at the comment and, as he left, gently place one of her hands on a moderate sized bump on her belly._

_Later in the evening, with all the boxes placed in the Alleris's new home, the two begin to share the task of sorting and storing their worldly possessions. Two bed, three bath, with a large basement and adjoining suite. It was a little too big for the couple as of now, but it was their hope to fill it._

_They had been trying for some time, since before they were married in fact, and that had proven the hardest part. Dias made it no secret that he wanted a family, that he wanted to be a father – a good father, he always made the case of stating – but that dream always seemed to be just beyond his grasp. Dias was never entirely open about his past to Allison. She knew he was born of Kwinesh to the north, and came to Salm at seventeen, joining the fiend hunters and earning renown there, but...things were foggy in the between, and he was never willing to clear the fog on his past. But she did now he had trouble conceiving; she had seen the monstrous scar that started from halfway down his navel and travelled all the way down his groin the first time they had sex, and he couldn't very well hide the reality of a huge scar on his privates. Even then, he only explained in the vaguest terms, saying it was an injury from before he came to Salm. Every doctor he had been to told him the scar would prevent him from ever having children, but four months ago, all those trained medical professionals were proven wrong._

"_Hey, Allie, I've been thinking." Dias brought up, as the two were laying the bedspread across their new queen sized._

"_Really? Be careful, then." She said playfully, as she stuffed pillows into their proper cases, touching her stomach after every finished pillow. She had developed the habit of placing a hand on her pregnant belly every so often, many times a day._

"_I'm trying to be serious, here." He retorted, tucking the sheets under the mattress. "I was wondering... What do you want to name the kid?"_

"_Hmm...I guess I hadn't really thought about it. You?"_

"_I was thinking 'Sora'."_

"_And if it's a boy?"_

_Dias looked up, raising an eyebrow. "Why can't we name our son 'Sora'?"_

"_Because it's a girl's name." She stated promptly. "It's a lovely name, I agree, but it's not really a right name for a boy. Or even a unisex name." She shook her head, hand on her unborn child. "I mean, I went by the name 'Al' in grade's school, I was teased relentlessly because of it. Do you really want that to happen to your child?"_

_Dias stayed silent, apparently defeated, finishing his job of prepping the bed. His task done, he sat down on it, sighing slightly, before he spoke again, in a self-hushed voice. "Thinking of you, wherever you are. We pray for our sorrows to end, and hope our hearts will blend. Now I will step forward to realize this wish." Allison turned around to look at her husband, who continued to recite his speech, his voice slowly growing louder. "And who knows? Starting a new journey may not be so hard, or maybe it had already begun. There are many worlds, but they share the same sky. One sky, one destiny."_

_Crawling on her knees across the bed, Allison put a hand on Dias's shoulder. "W-what...what was that all about?"_

"_It...was a poem." He admitted, his voice uncharacteristically quiet. "A poem a friend told me, a longtime ago... 'One sky, one destiny'..." He repeated, before falling on his back, resting on the bed. "'Sora' means 'sky', yes?" When she nodded, he continued. "And if there indeed are many worlds, if the stories are true, if every star in the sky is a different world, then they do indeed share the same sky. I could go outside and look at the same sky as another person a billion kilometres away from me. Everyone is connected by the same sky..." His fingers slid through his sand-coloured hair. "I want my child to be like that. I want them to connect everyone they meet together, just like the sky."_

_Silence came across the couple again, Allison not knowing what to do, and Dias just staring at the ceiling, hardly moving at all. His wife regarded him for a few moments, hand on her stomach, on her little miracle, _their_ little miracle. "I think it's a wonderful name." She reached across the bed, kissing him softly, transferring her hand to his hand, and then placing his hand onto her belly. Breaking the kiss, she smiled warmly. "For a boy or a girl."_

_Affectionately rubbing the belly of his wife, Dias smiled himself, whispering so quietly he barely heard himself. "Sora..."_

* * *

><p>"Okay, let's get this show on the road..."<p>

Dayne wiped the sweat from his brow. It was approaching two in the afternoon on Salm, and the heat was beginning to rise, and his outfit wasn't helping much. Allison had told him about the Sand Sea's "company uniform" for all waiters, which turned out to be nothing more than a black golf shirt with the restaurant's logo on it, to be worn with cargo or khaki bottoms, be they pants, shorts, or a skirt. The former bodyguard had chosen a pair of dark cargo pants, but was regretting wearing such covering clothing and dark colours in the heat. That changed when he stepped inside and felt the cool breeze of centralized air conditioning.

All and all, he was rather grateful with the schedule Allison gave him. With all her summer help, he would never end up working more than four days a week, about six or so hours per shift. All of his shifts were in the middle of the afternoon, which meant he could sleep when it was cool out, work in an air conditioned building when it was it's hottest, and he had time to himself at night, when it was also cool out. Well, cooler (three days, and the heat was already driving him up the wall). That being said, his first few days here looked to be a bit of mad rush. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, all shifts from noon to six (except for today's shift, which was the Friday), and him having stuff planned afterwards. Training sessions on the Friday, Sunday, and Monday, and the start of his 'game night' on the Saturday. If it didn't cool down at night to a point where he could sleep, he probably would be pulling his hair out by Tuesday.

Allison Alleris beamed at him when he walked in. "You're early Dayne. I like that." She smacked him playfully over the stomach with a menu. The Sand Sea's proprietor was a handful of years shy of middle-age yet, and still showed plenty of signs of youth. Short, but perky, energetic, and fairly attractive, with bright blue eyes, and the same chocolate brown hair as her son's, straight and cut short, as oppose to Sora's mane of spikes. "Ready for your first day?"

"Yeah." He nodded briskly. "I mean, not the first time I've worked in a restaurant." Thirty years of living from place to place had led to Dayne acquiring a long and strange resume. Outside of soldier, bodyguard, Radiant Guardian, and Heartless hunter, he had held positions as a waiter, boxer, bouncer, bounty hunter, professional wrestler, and stage actor, among others.

"Good to hear." Al replied, looking up at him. The six-foot-six Dayne dwarfed her by a foot, but to Allison's credit, she didn't seem all too perturbed by it. "So, the lunch rush just about ended, so it shouldn't be too busy. And I won't keep you for more than a few hours, just so you can learn the ropes around here." She began to lead him to the back of the kitchen. "You studied the placement of the dining room? I got you working section two today." He nodded quietly in response. "Good. Hope you're a quick learner then. Oh, lemme introduce you to the other girl on staff right now. Don't worry, you won't be the other two. We have another two coming in at three, I just find that two to three is our lull on weekends." The owner pointed to a girl with curly blonde hair, over at a corner sink, washing her hands. "Dayne, this is Nicole."

And the sound of her name, the blonde turned around, and Dayne recognized it was the waitress from his first day on Salm. "Oh? The new guy's in. Well it's nice to – tall..." When she set her eyes on Dayne, the bespectacled girl stared up, eye's growing in mild shock.

Dayne sighed, holding his forehead. "Yeah...Suppose I am..." Against his hopes, he was finding most of the people on Salm weren't closer to Riku and Roxas in size, but more like Sora or Namine, and all these short people liked to gawk at Dayne when he walked by, as if they hadn't seen a six-foot-six man with cobalt blue hair before (which to be fair, they hadn't). And, of course, both Allison and Nicole were at height with one another.

"Oh, jeez!" The waitress looked down, covering her mouth with a hand. "Sorry! Sorry! I didn't mean to stare or comment or anything, just...I mean, I've never seen anyone so tall before."

"It's okay, it's okay. I'm used to it." He lied. It was aggravating, but he supposed he had to get used to it for now. If things went the way he thought they were going, he would be spending time on Salm until Kairi was ready to take the throne – three years at most. _It's gonna be a long three years..._ "I get why people stare, at least." He joined her at the sink and began to wash as well.

"You were with Sora and his friends the other day, weren't you?" Nicole asked. Before Dayne could answer, one of the hostesses came up to the front, telling them that they just sat three at table eleven, which happened to be in Dayne's section.

_Table eleven, table eleven..._ Allison had given him a card with the sitting information for the dining room, which he had spent several hours scrutinizing over the past two days. _Table eleven: the booth up against the wall, opposite the bar, closest to the entrance._ He made his way through the restaurant, and up to the table, putting on his best business smile as he met the three sitting at his table. "Hello, my name is Dayne, I'll be your waiter for the afternoon."

Over the course of the day, as Dayne and Nicole continued to cycle through the dining room to get the orders of their patron's and serve them their food, he never did get a chance to answer her question. And he didn't get a chance the next day either, at least until the end of their shift, with both of them getting off at five in the afternoon.

"Well, I know Sora through Kairi, truth be told." Dayne explained to the blonde, as the two of them passed off dirty dishes from their tables, handing them to the dishwasher's in the back. "I knew – well used to work for – her father."

"You worked for Mayor Minami?" She looked at him as the dishwasher's took the last of their plates and glasses. "'Cause you just said you're new to Salm..." She sounded a little unconvinced by his story – which was wholly true, at least what he had told her...

"No, no, I mean I used to work for Kin- I mean, her birth father." He almost said "King Agrias". Both of the waiters undid their aprons and hung them up on the rack. "Her birth father, from when she was much younger." He had a recent encounter with Aiden Minami, and he had formed a hard and fast opinion that he was nothing but a giant prick.

"Oh, right. I got ya." Both made their way out, saying goodbye to Allison before, and headed into the outdoor world. "I actually forget sometimes." She continued with a bit of a smile. "That she's a adopted. I mean, she's so happy with Mayor Minami and his wife and their daughter, it's hard to remember. And now they adopted Kairi's birth twin, they're just such a sweet family."

"Yeah..." He remembered the cover story's that had been fabricated for Namine and Roxas. That Namine was Kairi's twin sister, the two separated at birth, and the Minami's now adopting her, while Roxas was posing as Sora's cousin, his father's nephew. "Well, I got plans tonight and a few errands to run, so I'll see you some time later, Nicole." He took a step back down to his apartment.

"Oh, Dayne, um...before you go." Nicole's words did stop Dayne, as she looked at him, shoulders pointing a bit inward. "Uh... Well, I was wondering, if you had some free time later, if you'd like to go and get a drink with me? Or something like that?"

_She just asked me out on a date..._ Despite Rain's wishes to live his life to the fullest – including love – Dayne thought he would go through the rest of life without that intimate companionship again. To have such a request come only three or so days after the wish had the same effect on Dayne as staring at a basilisk. His face turned as white and stone still as chalk, and he decided to act on the first impulse his brain formed: pretend to not hear her. "Um...I really have to get running, Nicole, so...bye!" With his long legs and powerful strides, a shell shocked Keyblader booked it across the Salm township.

* * *

><p>"So, is everyone ready to start?" Tycho asked the six people assembled around him. Saturday night had come, and just as planned, Tycho was hosting Sora, Namine, Dayne, Amelia, Arc, and Gabe in his basement, about to perform character creation for their game of Dungeons &amp; Dragons.<p>

Tycho's basement was certainly equipped for this activity, as his walls were lined with shelves, all fully loaded with gaming pieces. Models, and rule books, and modules fought for space; boxes of tokens and rolled up maps and model landscapes and dioramas were all crammed where ever they could fit, but in a way that they wouldn't get damaged. Cases and boxes full of dice of all shapes, sizes, and colours filled up the bottom of the shelves. And the centre of the basement was dominated by a large, magnificent hardwood table, it's four legs carved to resemble dragons.

"Sure am, after work..." Dayne muttered. He, Sora, and Namine sat along one side of the table. Gabe, Arc, and Amelia on the other side, and Tycho, the Dungeon Master – meaning he was the person who ran the game and opposed the players – sat at it's head.

"What happened at work?" Namine asked.

"Eh...You know Nicole? Yeah, well, she asked me out on a date..."

Arc leaned back in his chair in surprise. "And you didn't say yes?"

"No, I didn't..." Dayne replied slowly. Tycho was passing out pencils to the six, as well as a double-sided piece of paper, white laden with black lines and boxes, that bore the title "Dungeons & Dragons Character Record Sheet". Dayne accepted his eyeing it, looking for differences. Although he was a former player of the game, D&D had gone over many revisions in it's history. Dayne played Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, a form of Second Edition, while Tycho assured the group the game they were playing was the new Fourth Edition, or 4e.

"Are you crazy?" Sora, of all people, cried out at him. "She's hot. Why didn't you?"

"Who're you calling hot, mister?" Namine stared him down through her lenses. "Maybe I should be telling Kairi about this..."

"Oh come on, I can't compliment other girls on their appearances?" The brunet plopped a cloth bag onto the table, atop his character sheet. "I can only have eyes for her?"

"Well, that's her choice I guess." Namine said in a mock huff. Sora just shook his head.

"We've met plenty of attractive people throughout our journeys. I've noticed, and I'm sure Kairi has too. You probably have too, Nam." This caused the blonde to blush slightly, as Sora opened up his bag, revealing it's contents to be dice. In D&D, the randomness of the universe and all actions in it were governed by a random source themselves: dice rolls. Many dice could be used, but the standard rules in the modern editions of the game came down to six dice: d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20. From the pouch, Sora had poured out one of the d4, d8, d12, and d20, as well as three d10s, and five d6s. Sora's black dice looked to be a little shoddy though, the numbers chiseled into the sides being crooked, and the edges having a few chips in them.

"Cool dice, Sora!" Gabe instantly reached across the table and picked up a few of them. Amelia did the same, scrutinizing them a bit."

"These are...odd." She said, before tapping them on the table, creating a bit of a tinny sound. "What are they made of?"

"Dragon bone." Sora explained quickly. Both Gabe and Amelia dropped the dice they were holding, looking a bit revolted, though Gabe's face changed to awed admiration a second later.

"Why are they black?" Amelia asked. "And so metallic-like?"

"Dragon bone has a high composition of iron." Dayne extrapolated, taking a handful of dice from his pocket as well. His dice were clearly mass produced, looking much less shabby that Sora's, and each one was in a different colour. The four was black, the sixes (of which there were four) were red, the eight was blue, the ten was green, the twelve was yellow, and the twenty was orange. "What I wanna know is where you got dragon bone. That stuff doesn't come cheap."

"It was you dad, wasn't it?" Gabe asked, excitedly. "Dias killed a dragon at one point?" Sora nodded, and Gabe slapped his hand on the table. "I knew it! Man, your dad is the best! Like, the best fiend hunter ever!"

"Gabe!" Tycho jumped out of his seat. "You don't hit the table! You NEVER hit the table!" The brown-haired teen took out a spray bottle and cloth and began to wiped at the spot where Gabe's hand made contact, seemingly whispering sweet nothings to the object.

"Wait your dad was a fiend hunter?" Dayne turned to the Master of Destiny. "Like, he was an active warrior. Apparently the best?"

"He's not the best." Sora said, a little bashful. "He's good. Real good, but not the best."

"Oh right, we forgot his crush." Amelia said with a sly smile. Sora began to redden and stammer in protest. "We forgot about Lady Ember."

"Who?" Dayne was almost certain he had heard that name before.

"Ember, she's another fiend hunter. Currently active." Namine told him, though she was holding back a few key facts about the hunter. "She's considered the most skilled."

"And Sora has a crush on her. Always had." Amelia continued to tease.

"I do not, Amelia!"

"I would be careful calling her 'Lady Ember'," warned Arc. "I heard that last person who said that got his jaw broke by her."

Dayne snorted. "Sounds like she's an ornery bitch." Gabe shrugged across the table.

"She is, if you believe the stories."

Arc then pointed across the table at Dayne. "And don't think you're off the hook just yet, buddy. Why would you turn down Nicole?"

Dayne rolled his eyes in severe annoyance. "If you all have to know..." He licked his lips pensively. "My wife of thirty years...she passed away around last month. So, yeah..."

The people at the table who didn't know of Rain or her fate, suddenly looked very sadly at Dayne, Arc lowering his gaze a bit. "Oh, sorry dude, I didn't know..."

"It's alright." Dayne waved him off, trying to be cool about it. "I made my peace with it. You don't have to worry about it, at all."

"So, you're not willing to date yet, Dayne?" Namine asked him. When he shook his head "No", she continued. "Then tell her you just got out of a long relationship – spare her the tedious details – and, y'know, you're not ready. You want to be friends for now. I mean, it's not like you ran away when she asked." She laughed to herself, which was answered by Dayne's nervous chuckle. The glasses-wearing girl looked at him, stupefied, before slapping her forehead. "You did, didn't you? You ran away!"

"I've never been asked on a date before! How was I suppose to know what to do?"

"Not run away like she has the plague!"

"Hey, are we here to gossip like the proverbial flock of hens?" Tycho called from the head of the table. "Or are we actually going to game?" Everyone began to settle down at this, as Tycho turned to the group. "Now, you four," he motioned to Namine, Amelia, Arc, and Gabe. "Don't have dice. Normally, I'm very up in arms about people using my dice, but I'll make an exception for tonight." He pointed back to the tub of dice sitting on one of his shelves. "So, pick out a set, and you can use them tonight. You really only need to use the d6s, but whatever. Just promise me, you'll get your own set before the next time we meet. There's a hobby shop on Euclid and Palm, and you can get a good set there for a little over a hundred munny."

The four went to pick out their dice for the evening. Gabe's were solid black, Namine's were crystal blue, Amelia had grabbed a set of white and black marbled dice, and Arc found himself some purple ones.

With dice in hand, Tycho began to speak again. "Alright, so I'll try to explain this stuff to everyone who hasn't played as best as I can, so you won't get lost." He reached down to his feet and began to pick up several hardcover rule books, passing them out to the players. "D&D is a role-playing game, and you are expected to create a character – in the sense of a personality in addition to stats for the character – and to play that role."

"We have to act?" Arc whined, taking up a copy of a book entitled _Player's Handbook_.

"What did you think 'role-playing' meant?" Amelia questioned.

"I didn't know, honestly."

"Just admit it, you joined for the girls."

"Yeah, but then I found out Namine had a boyfriend." He pointed out. "So why am I still here?" Before Amelia could answer, Tycho was raising his hand high above the group.

"This bickering is becoming very vexing." He said with a sigh, after the two quieted up. "Now, where was I? Oh, right. Your characters form an adventuring party, while I have my own role to play. I am the Dungeon Master. I run the game world, explaining the setting and creating the plot. I control all Non-Player Characters – or NPCs – as well as any monsters you run across."

"So, it's us against you?" Gabe asked.

"Not really." Dayne said. "The DM job is to run the story. He's not actively trying to kill us."

Tycho grinned evilly after Dayne's words. "Well, that's what the book says, but that's more of a suggestion..." He muttered, before speaking up. "Anyways, while you play characters, the successes and failures of your actions are determined by dice rolls, just to give things a random bent. That's not to say everything is random. While whether you fail or succeed is determined by a dice roll, the action in question is really only limited by your imagination. There is plenty of leeway in the rules, and the game rewards lateral and creative thinking. This is a game after all, so have fun and try and be as inventive with the tools you have."

"So, how do we go about making these characters?" Amelia asked, as she loosely flipped through a book entitled _The Adventurer's Vault_.

"Well, that's a very easy nine-step process, and it begins with everyone selecting a race and class combination.

"Your race determines certain bonuses you have to certain things, and various races lean towards certain classes. But that's not to say you couldn't make a more outlandish race/class combination. Dwarves maybe made to be stuff like Clerics, Fighters, or Paladins, but there is no rule against you making a Dwarf Wizard or a Dwarf Bard, it just takes a better understanding of the game.

"Your class dictates what you can do in the game. To simplify this, in 4e every class is split into one of four roles: Striker, Defender, Leader, and Controller. Strikers tend to be squishy, with low HP and defences, but they do the highest damage, usually against single targets, and they all have an ability that lets them do extra damage. This varies from Monks and Sorcerers who do low extra damage, but it's fixed, constant, to classes like Rogues, Warlocks, and Rangers, who's extra damage is dice determined, so it can be much higher than the fixed damage, but also it can be much lower. Defenders are your tanks and shields; they have lots of HP and lots of defences to keep them on their feet, and all have some kind of special skill that lets them Mark enemies, meaning they enemy is at a disadvantage if they fight anything but the Defender. Plenty of creatures can Mark in the game, but if the enemy violates your mark, the Defender gets to punish them, and punish them hard.

"Leaders are classes built around making the party win. They are the ones who have the most constant and effective healing powers; each Leader has a strong healing power they can use twice per battle. Most Leaders also have some sort of other speciality besides healing that is a boon to their party. Clerics are the best healers, Warlords give allies extra attacks, Bards reposition allies, and Runepriests are the best at buffing the party. So, they maybe healers, but that is not all they can do; they're supporters, and can still mix it up in combat. Finally, we have Controllers, the hardest of the roles to play. Controllers are the inverse of Leaders; they are designed around making the enemy party lose the battle. To accommodate this, Controllers focus on plenty of area attacks, and messing with enemies by moving them around the battlefield, or inflicting negative statuses on them. They're difficult to play because you have to know when to use your powers, and it is critical your powers are extremely effective when you do use them.

"Now, you don't need to have one of each role in the party. The only role you really need is a Leader, or else you'll be suffering from the lack of healing. Monsters can hit very hard in this game. But you can build your party however you want. You don't need any Strikers, but be prepared in that case for battles to last longer. You don't need Defenders, but be mindful about letting the big nasties get up and wrecking your squishy party members.

"With all that out of the way, please go through the books and find a race and class you'd like to play." The group did so, but Tycho continued to speak as they looked. "I only have one copy of each of the three of _Player's Handbooks_ though, so you need to share. And I will let you know you can pick any kind of race and class you want. This is our first game, so let's have some fun."

The next several minutes were spent with the six looking through guide books, arguing who could look over what and when, with several questions directed at Tycho regarding the history of races, which classes did what, and his opinion on various things (a few members were wary to take his advice, fearing he might actually be trying to sabotage the party). But after all the arguments and discussion and deep thinking on this crucial part of character creation (well, every part of character creation is crucial, but this is where it all started...) the six came into agreement on the formation of their party.

Dayne had built himself a Dragonborn Warlord; Dragonborn could be best described as humanoid dragons without wings, claiming to be descendants of an old dragon God, their empire long fallen into ruin. Warlords were a Leader class who were both competent support, as well as powerful warriors themselves. Unique to the class was that Warlords possessed a few abilities that granted party members attacks outside of their turn, which could prove crucial if the Warlord was too far out of position to attack.

Gabe created a Human Warlock, who he named Jim Darkmagic, of the New Hampshire Darkmagics (fifteen minutes of character creation was spent with Tycho and Gabe arguing about the existence of stage magicians in Dungeons & Dragons, as that is what Gabe was trying to make). Warlocks were spell caster Strikers who got their power from making pacts with various otherworldly beings, with Jim being a Star Pact Warlock, meaning his pact was with some sort of abomination from beyond the stars (or as Gabe put it, "I made a deal with Cthullu!"). Warlocks inflicted extra pain to enemies with their Warlock's Curse, and tended to inflict some of the highest damage amongst all Strikers.

The first question Arc asked was "Which class made for the best swashbuckler? I want to make an Errol Flynn-type". Tycho pointed him in the direction of the Rogue, resulting in the birth of Cydin Firehart, the Tiefling Rogue. Tieflings were the descendant of humanoids who made a deal with devils, demons, and all sorts of foul beings, and were partly cursed because of it. Rogues were Strikers who possessed the Sneak Attack feature, letting them inflict big damage on vulnerable enemies, and Arc was following his swashbuckler idea, making Cydin a noble vagabond and flamboyant duelist. Rogues also provided plenty of support out of combat, as well.

Amelia had taken a good look at the lore, and created a truly unique character: a Drow Paladin of Eiliastraee. Drow was the name for dark elves, subterranean creatures known for being born evil, with a cruel, ruthless matriarchal theocracy. Drow were never good, and even renegades from their society tended to be self-serving, if not still evil. Paladins were Defenders, holy warriors, all whom served a deity, and championed the tenants of their God. Eiliastraee was the Drow Goddess of renegade Drow, swordplay, and archery, among other tenants, and Amelia claimed that her Paladin was not a champion of justice or good, but of freedom, of people making their own way in the world, free of the restrictions of society.

Namine decided to fill the second Leader role, creating herself a Half-Elf Bard. Bards were arcane spell casters, who channelled their spells through their performances, whether it be music, dance, poetry, or whatever. Their healing is a little lacklustre next to classes like Warlords or Clerics, but they make up for it in letting allies reposition themselves on the battlefield, a critical advantage at points. They also can be very adept at all situations, possessing both ranged and melee attacks, and, like Rogues, provided a good deal out of combat support.

Finally, Sora acted as the party's third Striker, building an Elf Ranger. Rangers were hunters and gatherers, rather attuned Strikers, able to hit from afar with bow and arrow, and could use two melee weapons at a time, more effective than any other class in the game. The Ranger's big feature was the Hunter's Quarry, a special target they could designate one at a time, and anytime they struck their Quarry, extra damage was inflicted.

"Okay, so now that you're done with all that," Tycho began after the finalization of classes and races, "We're going to roll for ability scores." Straight dice rolls were not the only thing that governed D&D, as modifiers could be applied to the rolls to raise or lower them (higher was almost always better), and the main way to modify was through the six ability scores each character and creature possessed.

"Wait." Interrupted Arc. "What about all this other stuff at the top? Weight? Height? Stuff like that?"

"That's more about fleshing out your character, which is something you can do on your own time, as well as picking a name and making a character. That's the last step, something you can do on your own time." Arc nodded, satisfied with the answer, and Tycho continued. "There are six scores in this game: Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma, and each on governs one or more things your character can do.

"Strength represents your physical power, your musculature, how much you can lift, how well you can swim, jump, climb; stuff like that. Constitution is a character's stamina and endurance, and it is usually important to all characters, as it increases your Hit Points. Strength and Constitution also are used to determine one of your defences against attacks, Fortitude. Dexterity is your nimbleness and agility. It determines your quickness and stealthiness, as well as how fast you react in combat. Intelligence is about your reasoning and how well you learn. Anything focused around studying is tied to Intelligence. Dexterity and Intelligence can also be used to determine your Reflex defence, and, if you wear light armour, boosts up your main defence, which is called Armour Class. Wisdom is a character's common sense, and empathy, used to notice details and sense things. Charisma is a measure of the character's persuasiveness, the force of their character, and, in some cases, their physical attractiveness and charm. Wisdom and Charisma can help determine your Will defence.

"But, enough about the scores and how they come into play – I'll explain that stuff later on." A few of the gamers looked a little relieved after the mass of information. "Let's start by determining them. Who'd like to start?"

"I'll give it a try, Tycho." Namine offered. The DM smiled and pointed to her dice.

"Then here is what you do. You roll the d6 four time, or roll 4d6, or whatever." Namine picked up the four d6s she got from Tycho's bin. "So, you roll them, take away the lowest number from the total, and add the remaining three together."

Namine did as she was bid, throwing the handful of dice onto the table. They came up as a four, three, three, and one. "So...that's ten right? Is that good?"

"Ten is about average for an ability score." Tycho shrugged, and Namine nodded, a little sad that her maiden roll was only average. "Now, do that five more times – or six in total – re-rolling any total that is seven or lower, and that will give you your six scores. Everyone else can do this as well, but don't assign numbers to abilities just yet, alright?"

The group nodded and picked up their dice, and for the next thirty seconds or so, the room was filled with the sound of dice rattling against each other and off the table. After the rolling, the team each looked at everyone's scores. Namine had come up with 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, and 16; Dayne rolled 10, 10, 14, 15, 15, and 15; Sora sat at 10, 11, 12 13, 16, and 16. Amelia's rolls totalled 10, 10, 15, 15, 15, and 16; Arc had managed to gain 10, 12, 13, 14, 14, and 17 for his Rogue; and Gabe came in with 9, 13, 14, 14, 16, and 16.

"A nine?" Gabe moaned. "That's bad, isn't?"

"It's slightly below average." Tycho explained. "But all classes provide plenty of dump stats for low scores."

"It's not so bad, Gabe. You actually have the best spread of scores in the other five." Arc pointed out. "You're the most balanced in the party.

"Guess we'll all have to make do." Sora said with a shrug. "So, what's next Tycho?"

"Well, next you have to assign each number to one of your abilities." Tycho began. "In every stat block for classes, it lists three abilities that the class focuses on, and in each race state block, it gives you bonuses to two of your stats, or sometimes a choice of two from three. For example, you are a Paladin Amelia, so your three key stats are Strength Wisdom, and Charisma. And, as a Drow, you gain a bonus to Dexterity, and your choice of Wisdom or Charisma, and Charisma is probably more important than your Wisdom, as it can be used as an attack stat."

"'Attack stat'?" Dayne asked, confused. "You don't just use Strength or Dex anymore?"

"Well, you can. But for each classes special abilities – their Powers – they tend to have unique attack stats listed in the block, that is, stats used for both hitting enemies and dealing damage. Bards use Charisma, Warlocks switch between Constitution, Intelligence, and Charisma; Paladins use either Strength or Charisma, Rangers use Dexterity or Strength, Warlords just Strength, and Rogues just Dexterity. Usually you want your attack stat to be your highest..."

* * *

><p>"Nami, would you stop fussing! They look fine." Erica chided her newest sister.<p>

A few hours had passed since their shopping venture on the first day back at Salm, and Erica and Namine had finished their little errand to the optometrist, Namine utterly mystified that they could make a pair of prescription glasses in such a short time. She was currently standing in front of the full-length mirror that stood in the corner of Kairi's room – her room too, now that she thought on it – constantly fiddling and adjusting the new silver-white and black frames that rested across her ears.

Erica reached behind her and tried to hold hands at the sides, but Namine fought her off. "Stop it, stop it!" She said, before going back to playing with the frames. "They just feel weird is all..."

"Of course they feel weird. They're new. It happened to me when I got my ears pierced." Erica brushed back her raven-black hair to reveal a pair of ruby red studs set in her earlobes. "But you'll get used to them."

"Well, just let me fiddle with them until I get used to them." The blonde returned. "My glasses, my right."

A playful gleam appeared in Erica's dark eyes, as she hovered over her little sister again. "Or are you so fussy 'cause your worried about what people might think?"

"N-no!"

"A special certain someone?"

The two continued to bicker, but in a semi-playful way that only close siblings or best friends did, Kairi watching them from her bed with a thin smile on her face, happy that Namine was seemingly getting along with the family. A mackerel tabby cat sat on her lap, her pet cat Kina, who she was busy scratching with one hand, while the old feline lapped at her other hand with a wet, rasping tongue. _I missed this. _She thought happily. _It's good to be home._ Even now, just sitting in her room, minding herself and watching her sisters gave her such a wonderful jolt, a surge of joy and memories. One of her earliest memories of Salm focused around the house and her room. She felt such a surge of unwanted pride as a little girl when she found out that she was one of the only kids in her entire school with a two-storey house (three if one counted the basement) while everyone else were confined in single-storey ranchers. Then she realized that a house like hers was a little impractical for a tropical island; hot air rose, making her bedroom on the second-storey a bit too sweltering and confining at times, especially her first few summers here. Still, no one complained whenever she hosted a sleepover, and her and each of her friends could fit in her queen-sized bed and sleep peacefully.

"_And here I thought you were enjoying your adventures are your growth. Was I mistaken?" _A familiar, if unwanted, voice popped into her head.

She rolled her eyes at Miw's intrusion. _I can't enjoy both?_ She countered. Erica's teasing had stepped up it seemed, as Namine was busy chasing the older teen, who now had Namine's spectacles in hand, around the room. _Yes, I loved expanding my horizons and getting closer to Sora, but home is home. There's not a feeling in the universe that can compare to that. Sleeping in my own bed, and being with Kina and Eric and mom. And it'll get even better when I see my friends tomorrow, too._

"_And your father?"_

_That..._ She fumbled for word's, cursing her Keyblade Spirit's perceptiveness. _You should really stay out of my memories, you know that! It's rude!_

Miw laughed a bit at the weak comeback. _"It is my duty to guide you. And to do that, I must know you. I daresay I know you better than you know yourself."_

_I know who I am!_ Why did she always get so flustered and angry conversing with the perplexing Spirit?

"_A part of you does, but not your whole self. Still, I have confidence you'll find the truth in time. You know who you are, Lady Kairi, Queen of Light."_

The Queen in question sighed and fell back onto the bed. _Why does my mentor have to follow the syndrome of every mentor in the movies? Can't they ever speak clearly instead of talking in riddles?_ Kina strode up the length of the bed, beginning to lick at her long absent owner's cheeks. She had to smile at that.

That didn't last long though, as both Namine and Erica, still engaged in the chase, dove down across the bed. Kina scampered away to safety, but Kairi was neither as fortunate or as quick, as both flaxen and black-haired sister crashed across her stomach, causing her to sit partly up with a forced "Oof!"

"Give them back, Erica!" Namine thrashed around atop the pile, hands scrabbling through the hair to get back her glasses.

"Then admit it. Admit it!" Erica called, squirming between her sisters, always keeping the frames a hand's length away. "Admit why you're worried about how you look in these."

"It's not true!"

"It so is!"

Kairi began to wedge her palms underneath the mass of Minami sisters. "You two have way too much energy." With all her might, she flipped the two off to the left, dumping them onto the floor head-over-heel. She soon found herself joining the two as, in panic, her sisters reached out for a grip to stay on the bed, grabbing Kairi's arms instead, and dragging her down to the floor, too, the three sisters now forming a chaotic and jumbled mess beside the bed.

"Finally!" During the confusion of the dumping, Namine managed to snatch her glasses back from Erica.

"I'll just steal them back!" Erica huffed, trying to sort herself out in the pile.

"No you won't. I'm not having all that happen again." Kairi warned her elder sibling. Namine stuck her tongue out at Erica, before returning the frames to their rightful resting place, victoriously.

As the girls began to try and separate, a soft knock came at the bedroom door. "Kairi. Namine." It was the voice of their mother. "You father's home. And he wants to talk to both of you in the living room."

"Okay mom. Just give us a few minutes." Kairi told her. After that, the girls did manage to split apart, straightening themselves and one another out so they didn't look like they had just come from an inter-familial brawl. "Alright, about time we get this over with..." Kairi declared, rather ominously.

"It's not gonna be that bad, Kai..." Namine said softly. All of the memories of Kairi came with a great deal of insight to her home life. Sure, her father, _their_ father (she found she was constantly correcting herself on terminology) could be a little overbearing, but he was nothing if not caring of his girls.

"You'll see when he comes down on us for having boyfriends."

Namine shook her head as the two left the room, getting a sendoff from Erica, telling them, "Solidarity, sisters."

Although it was never an active concern, a part of Kairi was very worried about her father's health. He only turned forty-four the past April, but he sometimes looked so haggard and overworked that he would gain ten-years in an instant. Her mother shared the concern, and prayed that when he resigned from being mayor and focused fully on being Governor, his health would recover a bit.

Today, Aiden Minami didn't look nearly as old as Kairi had feared; a good sign, she decided, as she and Namine sat down on the loveseat in the living room. Their father sat on his lone recliner opposite from them, while their mother sat on the large couch in the centre, apparently there to keep the peace just in case (or so everyone hoped).

"I think you know why I wanted to speak with you two," Aiden started, not missing a beat, as soon as their butts hit the cushions. "But, before we do, I have something for you Namine." He picked a sheet off the table in front of him, passing it all the way across the room to the flaxen-haired Keyblader.

Namine looked at the sheet, a little confused as to why she was handed this: a course registration form for the local high school. "Um...sir, why do I need this?"

"Please, no 'sir'. I'm your father now, I suppose, if what that idiot with the mullet said is true. So, please, call me 'dad' or 'daddy' or 'father', whatever is natural to you. I mean, am I that frightening to you?" When no one answered, Aiden broke the awkward silence with a sigh. "Anyways. I've spent the day crafting some information for the four newcomers here."

"'Crafting'?" Namine asked.

"A nice way of me saying I've been illegally forging documents." The middle-aged politician explained. "I've created everything you'll need to have a proper life. Birth certificate, orphanage and adoption records, Social Insurance Number, the whole works. As far as anyone is concerned, you're as legal as citizen as the next girl."

Julia decided to break in. "Just so you two know, we're going with the story that Namine is Kairi's birth sister, that the two of them were separated at birth, and that after finding her we decided to adopt her as well." Namine smiled at that.

"So, I want you to attend school in the fall with your sister," Aiden continued on. "So, please, fill that form before you go to bed tonight and I'll arrange things with the high school tomorrow."

"O-of course s-" She stopped herself. The Minami family had shown her so much kindness and generosity over the course of the day, that she had to repay them with whatever she could. "Of course I will. Thank you, father."

Aiden nodded, before turning to Kairi. "Now, Kairi. Is it true? Are you dating Sora Alleris?" The way he phrased it sounded like he was in total disbelief that this was reality.

"Yes I am." Kairi said, clearly and forcefully to try and drill the point home.

Aiden wasted no time getting to his agenda. "Out of respect to you then, I'm asking you to end this relationship with him at the first chance you get."

"Aiden..." His wife began, trying to dissuade him from this course.

"Don't start again, Julia. You know how I feel about that boy."

"May I ask why you want me to end our relationship?" Kairi asked, crossing her arms defiantly.

Again, Aiden did not hesitate. "I don't think he can be a good boyfriend. Or a good person, for that matter." He explained to her. "He's a trouble maker, pure and simple. Constantly getting into fights and trouble at school. What about that time he attacked those kids with the toy sword?"

"Those 'kids' were bullies who were picking on me. He was trying to help me." Kairi countered back, just as quick and snappy as her adoptive father. "Besides, that was back when we were little kids. He hasn't gotten into a fight at school in years!"

"He still gets into detention far too often from what I hear."

"From what you hear? Oh, what, are you checking in to make sure that I'm not getting into any sort of trouble? Is that it?"

"Nothing of the sort!" He said, defensively. He then decided to ignore that last point. "Regardless, he's proven time and time again to be an irresponsible miscreant." Kairi suppressed a giggle, as 'miscreant' was the exact word Sora used in his impression of her father back on their date at Lake Lindblum. "He was gone for nearly two years, worrying his friends and family to death, and I would find it hard to believe that he's apologized to his parents for that."

"His mother was awfully upset for a time..." Julia added, almost quietly.

"So I can't date Sora because he is a little irresponsible and because he used to get into fights when he was eight?" Kairi repeated, sarcastically to an extreme degree. Both Namine and Julia shifted uncomfortably at how bitter this argument was becoming. "Is that it, daddy dearest? Or is it because you can't let any boy so much as look at your precious daughter?"

"I just want what's best for you-" Aiden started, before Kairi quickly cut him off.

"Then you'd want me to be with Sora!" Kairi she shouted down at him. That was it, she had crossed a line. Her voice had never gotten so loud in this home before. "Then you'd want me to go out on these adventures and expand my horizons! You'd want me to be my own person, make my own way in life, instead of forcing me to take all these activities and sports, trying to turn me into this perfect little girl!"

Taking a deep breath, Kairi looked at her father's face, expecting him to be ready to explode. Instead, he was wearing this odd mask of shame and self-loathing, at least that's what she thought. "Listen dad, I'm sorry for blowing up at you, but... People have been telling me I've changed since I left. I really don't know if I had, but if that's what's worrying you... I'm sorry. I can't help it, people change. That's just part of life..." Then it dawned on Kairi that her words were wasted. Nothing she could do would take back her tirade. "...May I please be excused, daddy?" She managed, very meekly.

He nodded after a minute. "Yes. You and your sister may go."

As Kairi and Namine made the silent walk back to their bedroom, Kairi couldn't help think she had hurt her father very deeply. She certainly meant what she had said, and very passionately believed in her words, too, but she should have spoken more diplomatically. Closing the bedroom door, Kina there to greet her, she shook her head, thinking. _Shit...I really blew it this time._

* * *

><p>Born to an impoverished family on the southern island of Dali, Aiden Minami was a believer in hard work in all it's forms.<p>

Hard work had allowed him to climb up the political ladder across three islands and four townships. From a page, to a records clerk, to chief clerk, then city treasurer, and finally Mayor and Governor of Salm.

Hard work had given him a loving wife, a beautiful baby daughter, and later, two more adopted daughters; a loving family waiting for him whenever he returned home.

Hard work had given him prosperity, financial peace of mind, and allowed him to give his daughters a start on their future, whatever it may be.

Hard work had given him a greying beard and thinning hair by forty, as well as heart palpitations, ulcerations in his stomach, and general fatigue all around. And now, it was possible that his daughter hated him.

It took him two full days at the office (more than full, as he liked the start at around seven in the morning and went until six in the evening) to finish forging all the information the four needed. _Namine Minami, Roxas Alleris, Dayne Rivera, and Kalyn Dun Ilman._ Having worked in a clerical office for over five years had it's advantages, as he could perfectly forge the pertinent information for the four, with only the most astute eye and mind seeing that these were counterfeits. Of course, he never would have been doing this if it weren't for the constant nagging by Allison Alleris, and further pleading from his wife. He could never deny his wife anything, but she had a tendency to side with her high school girl friend, and Allison could be rather harpy-like in Aiden's opinion.

He frankly did not have the time for this nonsense. He had both a township and an island to run, a gubernatorial conference at the end of the month to plan for, and it seemed some nasty issues were weeding their way into his home life, something he always considered a sacred solace. No matter how bad his day went, he could return home, and greeting him would be the smiles of his girls, and the sweet smells of dinner, and very often a hug from one of his little girls.

_But that was ten years ago. When Kairi first arrived._ She had changed, as people were wont to do, but so much change had come in the past few days. Kairi was always sweet, if not a little quiet. Supportive of her friends and family; kind and generous and loving. She never got in trouble, and was always an excellent student in school, and very athletically inclined. True, Aiden had pushed her into a large variety of sporting activities – softball, volleyball, track and field, water polo, swimming, dance, and gymnastic – but she never argued and always seemed to have fun with her athletics. Hell, she was even involved in theatre, and despite all this, her academics and athletics and social life never faltered. She was the best possible daughter a father could ask for.

He was blessed for having the chance to raise this girl, he always thought.

_And now she yelled at me. She never yelled at me before..._ As all this ran through Aiden's mind, he was sitting at the kitchen table, so late at night it was the dark of morning. The only light on in the house was the one hanging above his head, and a large bottle of scotch and shot glass in front of him.

He had taken five shots by the time his wife roused herself from sleep, and found him.

"Aiden..." She hurried over to him. "What are you doing?" Out of instinct, she dragged the bottle of scotch to the other end of the table. "Is this because of what Kairi said last night?"

He didn't feel the need to answer the question. She knew it. "She hates me...doesn't she?" He said miserably, toying with this shot glass.

"No, no, no." A hand fell across his shoulders. "You and her... the two of you just want different things for Kairi. That's it. If you would just talk to her...well, she's told me and Erica about her homeworld. About how taken she is with it, and how she is very seriously considering returning their to rule. She's figuring her life out, you should be proud of her."

"So, all I did for her was wrong? I tried to help her and she's just going throw it all away? I was useless to her?"

"You're not useless to her!" Julia chided, as loudly as he dared in the dead of night. "We raised her together for ten years. She doesn't even know her birth parents. And we raised a good daughter. A strong, intelligent, patient, sweet, and kind girl. I know that, and she knows that, and so should you. We helped her become the person she is today, and you should be proud that she's decided to take the high road, to fight the hard fight and become a rule of an entire country."

_I should be proud, but I can't be. She hates me. I know it. She wants to be free and sees me as nothing more than a cage. I want to protect and help her, but she doesn't want my help. I can't do anything for my precious girl...I've failed as a father, haven't I?_

When Aiden remained silent for over a couple of minutes, Julia patted his shoulder. "Please come back to bed, Aiden?" She asked softly. "Doing this won't help you at all. Get a good night's sleep and try and talk to Kairi tomorrow. Maybe you'll both see things in a different light then?"

"...I'll be in bed soon. Don't wait up." With a parting kiss on the cheek, Julia returned upstairs, taking the scotch with her to ensure Aiden would no have his typical relief for depression and stress. He did return to bed like he was asked, but he did not fall asleep with an easy and clear mind.

Hard work had gotten him more trouble than it seemed. And he hated that. He hated that his nature had gotten him hell, and a lazy slacker like Dias Alleris could get heaven from nothing. But he had to focus on one thing at a time. First the heartache in his life, then the annoyances.

* * *

><p>It was noon.<p>

It was noon, on a Saturday afternoon, when Dias Alleris woke, eyes blurred and head splitting.

_I'm getting old..._ He told himself as he stumbled out of bed, a vile taste his mouth as he smacked his lips. _Can't bounce back like I use to._ Twenty years ago, he could work all day, drink all night, and still be able to kill a Malboro King the next morning, single handed, without missing a step.

He took up Allison's advice, agreeing to attend the annual gubernatorial conference as press, meaning for the last week in August, he would be stuck in a stuffy conference room, trying to get the scoop from a bunch of politicians, while his wife got to shop and lay on the beach, relax to her heart's content. Despite any reservations he had for going to this event, all of his friends and coworkers at the Salm Leader cheered him on, and, since it was a Friday, they decided to celebrate. Dias, not being one to turn down free drinks, went with them.

_I really need to learn to turn down free drinks..._ He entered the master bathroom suite, and instantly grabbed the mouthwash, gargling three mouthfuls of it, before the foul taste in his mouth diminished. "I'm getting old...I'm gonna be forty in January... Now, there's a scary thought." He told himself, looking at his red-eyed, downright exhausted face in the mirror.

After a quick shower, and a change of clothes, he found his way into the kitchen for a bottle of water, and then into the living room to sit down and try and rest, his head tortured, wracked, and torture racked. It was more than just the hangover (though that was a large, _large_ contribution to the pain), but words spoken to him by Terra, the night before his son's final battle with the Immortals.

"_He's coming, Dias."_

_That he is..._ He thought this day might come, he prayed it didn't, but it was always a possibility. _Anarados..._ His worst nightmare. _Twenty-two year, and all that hell you caused then, and since then._ His legs twitched, and he took a drink of water to try and get them to stop, to calm his nerves, wondering if he should tell someone, explain to them what had happened, and what was coming. _And what would Terra say to that? Something like "You're not apart of this battle. You cannot intervene, only react"._

Or maybe he was right. Maybe he was a coward, and that's why he had held this secret for over two decades. _I don't think I've actually spoken about it directly since then. Only minced around it when it comes out._ He sagged in his seat, letting out a drawn out sigh, hand on his forehead. "I really am a coward..." He said quietly. He was certain he had the house to himself, but even then. "How am I suppose to protect my sons, if-"

"Oh, so you're finally up." Dias instantly stopped talking (utter a small thanks that he was speaking so softly), and looked up, seeing Allison had joined him. "How bad are you suffering?" She walked into the room, reached over the back of the sofa, and kissed him.

"Badly." He replied in a mutter. "Really bad. I can't remember a hangover so bad." He shook his head. "So where were you out to?" He asked. Dias had suspected she had gone out grocery shopping, but he saw no bags in her arms, and from where she had entered the room, it meant she hadn't been in the kitchen as of yet. "Not shopping, were you?"

"Um...no. I was out at the doctor's, actually."

"The doctor's?" His fatherly instincts proved to be very sobering to his current state of mind, as he stood, standing over her, looking half-worried at his wife. "Are you okay? Is everything alright?"

In a very shy manner, Allison smiled back at Dias. "Better than alright. It's, well, let's just say you're not the only one who's been sick in the morning." As she said this, her smile grew even larger. Dias, on the other hand, just blinked dumbfounded at the confession.

"Wait...Allie, does that mean...?"

"I'm pregnant, Dias."

The following few moments began to blur and run together for Dias. But he did remember crying, and trapping his wife in a bear hug, and raining kissing on her, and smiling and laughing and feeling a joy unlike anything else he had experienced.

"I can't believe it..." He said. The world was almost in a dream-like state, as of now. Nothing felt real, but it all felt wonderful. "I never thought we'd have another...after it took so long for Sora...after all the trying in between." Allison was sitting on the couch, Dias laying across her, head on her stomach.

"I know...But it happened. We made another miracle." She smiled, stroking his hair lightly. "But, I think we should keep it a secret for now. I mean, so much has happened in the past few days, so much change, it wouldn't be fair to dump this on the boys now. A month, two, maybe. Then we'll tell them."

Dias nodded listlessly, though he wasn't really listening. In his brain, his despair was replaced by determination, a desire to protect. He was a father, and a father protected their family. _I can only react, Terra? Either way, I'll protect them. You won't lay a finger on them, so long as I live._ The fury of hell was coming, but he would protect them. He wouldn't fail this time.

**To Be Continued**

**Please Review**


	4. An Unenviable Duty

_Kairi: So, are you still whining from last week, seeing as how Shire is still more popular than you?_

_Angelo: That wasn't whining. Do you want whining? (In an annoying tone) This is whiiiiiiiinnniiiing!_

_Kairi: Did you...Did you just reference that? Ugh...Why did I get such a dork for an author? Why couldn't you be cool?_

_Angelo: Oh settle down, Princess. It's like I said in high school: so I'm not cool. I'm smart. My life is going to be awesome after this._

_Kairi: And currently you have no girfriend, no job, tons of social and mental issues, and you totally flubbed your first year of college. So, how's that philosophy working for you now?_

_Angelo: ...Die in a fire..._

_Anyways, I know, I'm surprised too. Two chapters in consecutive weeks? I am as shocked as you. Especially considering I didn't have my computer for two and a half days this week. But, yeah, let's get to a few housekeeping things first._

_Anyone miffed with the whole D&D thing, this is the last chapter in LSD where it will be featured in._

_LSD will now be extending to a total of nine chapters, but don't get your hopes up. The ninth chapter will be uploaded alongside the eighth, and it will only be a little teaser of the next fic to come._

_Once again, the contest is still going on, and will be lasting until LSD is completed. Remember, I give you the name of seven worlds, and if you can name the source of five of them, you get to ask me any one question about my fic series. Those worlds again are:_

New Orleans

Dwarf Woodlands

Corinth

Grand Line

Karakura Town

Criticverse

Detroit

_Again, join the Facebook group (link in my profile page). Also, the start of this chapter is a little racy, so viewer discretion is advised. Otherwise, enjoy!  
><em>

An Unenviable Duty

"Time to wake up, lover boy..."

"Wha...?"

"Evening, sexy. You sleep well enough?"

Sora blinked rapidly, peering through the darkness of night. Last thing he remembered was falling asleep in his bed. Then a jolt of energy ran through his sleeping body, and a husky female voice began to drift through the night's air. His eyes eventually became adjusted to the dark, as he peered across the room to the door.

His mind nearly broke when he saw what he saw.

Kairi. Leaning against door frame, hips cocked, a lusty grin on her face. She was completely naked, save for a pair of stockings, and her shield and Keyblade out in the open. The shield was high up to cover her breasts, while Radiant Crown hung low, hilt and guard covering her privates.

"Took you long enough." She said with a half laugh. She was the husky voice in the darkness, it seemed. "I'm surprised you didn't jump out at me earlier, lazy bum..."

Sora struggled to form words at this sight, but only incoherent babble could pass his lips, so Kairi chose to take the initiative. She dismissed shield and sword and crossed the short distance between door and bed, taking light steps in her stocking-clad feet. The brunet did his best not too look at any incriminating, private area, but keep his eyes on Kairi at the same time. This proved impossible, as his face turned a brilliant shade of crimson.

With Kairi at the foot of the bed, Sora made a move to turn off it, but his suddenly nude girlfriend would have none of that. She hopped through the air, landing atop Sora, just above his hips, her hands stretching over, pinning his wrists down. He was sleeping atop his covers, wearing only a pair of boxer short, it was a hot and swampy night, after all.

"Hi there..." Sitting on him, Kairi leaned over top of the spiked haired Keyblader, long strands of red hair dangling before her, tickling at Sora's cheeks. A white hot light flashed in her eyes.

"K-Kairi..." Sora finally managed to form a word. At the sound of her name, Kairi lowered her body, pressing his and her body parts together, a fact Sora was acutely aware of. He squirmed under her. "W-what is this? What're you doing?"

A playful smile formed on the Princess's lips. "I'm not going to mince words with you, Sora. I want you." She leaned down even further, kissing his cheek lightly, before moving to his neck. "And I know you want me, too." Every few words she would leave a couple of feverish kisses along his neck. "I see the way you look at me, and the way you look at other guys when you look at me." This time, she followed the kisses with a few playful nips at Sora's collarbone. "And I don't give a damn what anyways says about us. Not my dad, not Dayne, not anyone." She sat straight up again, bringing her hands with her, slowly dragging neatly trimmed nails across his chest, ever so lightly. "Well, I do care what someone says: You." Kairi smiled again. A more typical smile of the sweet girl, but the heat was still there.

For a few seconds after, Sora's lips moved without words sounding from them, only more nonsensical spluttering. But he managed to say something. Eventually. "Kairi...Of course. Of course I want you." He said, voice full of genuine excitement. So much so, it made Kairi smile again. With his hands free, her reached up to gently cup her face. "I love you more than anything, and you are right. I can't stop looking at you. Thinking about you..."

"Really? Well, your parents are upstairs, can't hear a thing. Roxas and Namine are out at a play tonight. We have a few hours all to ourselves," she lowered her body down again, ear up against his mouth, "and I think I want to hear some of these things you think about. About me." She licked her lips, and Sora began. With bated breath, he whispered into his love's ear all the things that only he knew about. His most private thoughts and desires. To the subject of those desires, nonetheless.

When Sora finished, Kairi rose up again, this time shifting down his body, now resting on his knees. "Wow. You're a naughty little boy, aren't you?" She said with a tiny giggle escaping her lips. Sora blushed again, but she answered by placing a reassuring hand on his chest. "But then again, Your Queen here is a naughty girl, too. Now, what would you like to do next?"

Sora grinned a little nervously. "Uh...anything you'd like...My Queen..." Kairi answered with another playful smirk.

"Good answer." Both her index fingers travelled down again, hooking around the hem of his boxers. "What I want to do, is find out just how big your 'Keyblade' really is..."

* * *

><p>Kairi woke with a start, launching upright in her bed.<p>

_Another one..._ She mentally bemoaned. Ever since they had defeated the Immortals and returned to Salm permanently, Kairi had been plagued (her words) by _those_ types of dreams. That had been the most vivid of the lot, and the only one to rouse her in the middle of the night. The worst part was, her mind seemed to be playing with her body, as she woke with her skin flushed and hot, a heavy charge running through her body.

_I wonder if I should do something about it?_ Instantly, she knew the thought was a bad idea. Namine had taken to sharing Kairi's queen bed with her, an idea Kairi fully agreed with. The blonde was sleeping next to her, and she certainly did not want her to wake and catch her doing..._that_. Still, her body protested, causing her to squirm irritably under the covers. _Maybe...Maybe I can do it without getting caught? I won't be able to sleep like this, anyways._

Suddenly, and much to Kairi's surprise, a miniature angel and devil appeared, much like she was in an old cartoon, hovering about her shoulders. The two looked very much like her, too, which was probably the most disturbing thing.

"_You shouldn't do it, Kairi. You're acting like nothing more than a horny teenager!"_ The Angel Kairi cried. She looked very much like Kairi, except with a halo above her head, feathery dove wings coming from her back, and a radiant aura encircling her. She was barefoot, and wearing a loose, flowing toga. All and all, she emanated peace and calm, though those were the farthest things from Kairi's mind.

"_Um, hello? She is a horny teenage girl! Do it, girl! And if your sis wakes up, maybe you can get her to join in!"_ The devil countered. Again, the spirit (or whatever the hell it was, Kairi was stymied) was similar looking to Kairi, but much more sinister and seductive. The hair was a much darker shade of red, almost black at parts, her nails painted dark red as well, with a bit of black eyeshadow on. The devil was wearing a mini skirt, and what looked like a push-up bra, both made of red leather, with high-heeled gladiator sandals. Horns protruded from her forehead, a short tail from her tailbone, and bat wings from her shoulders.

Kairi was at a complete loss of words as to this turn of events. _What the hell! Have I gotten so horny I've gone insane?_

"_You're not insane, Kairi."_ The Angel answered. Kairi could almost hear a harp being strung when she spoke. _"We're just manifestations of your conscious; your morality. I represent virtues like your kindness, loyalty, and loving nature."_ She pronounced, sounding very proud.

"_And I represent the fun stuff!"_ The Devil declared, sounding just as proud. _"I'm your wickeder – and therefor, more fun – thoughts. Like your lust and wrath."_

_Wrath? Lust? Wait, I'm a Princess of Heart. I shouldn't have that stuff._

"_Wrong!" _Shouted the Devil Kairi, cocking her hips to the left. _"You are right in saying you don't have any darkness, which you still don't have, so don't get your panties in a bunch. But we're something much more complex, anyways. Primal impulses that all humans, good or evil, have. And I'm here to stay, hot-stuff!"_ She cackled excitedly at that, causing Angel Kairi to sigh.

"_I'm afraid she is right. Princess of Heart or no, she is something you just can't get rid of. But that is not the point! You shouldn't be doing...those things. Not now. Not with Namine right next to you."_ The Angel chided harshly, hovering in front of the real Kairi's nose. _"What would she think if she woke up and found you..."_ She awkwardly trailed off, causing the Devil to scoff.

"_Oh please! She lived with that Larxene chick, I bet she swings both ways."_ The Devil then fluttered over, hip-checking Angel Kairi away, looking Kairi directly in the eyes. It disturbed Kairi that the three of them shared eyes. _"Besides, when was the last time you touched yourself, anyways?"_

"_I believe that was the night of her date at Lake Lindblum, with the Master of Destiny."_

It took all of Kairi's mental strength not to shriek bloody murder at Miw's comment. Even then, it seemed the lack of focus caused her Angel and Devil selves to vanish. _Miw! You perverted bastard!_ It took all of her physical strength to stay as still as possible as to not wake Namine. _What did I tell you about spying on me and my thoughts!_

"_You said: 'If you do that one more time, the next time I enter my heart I will rip that stupid mask off your face and beat you half to death with it'. You are rather wrathful, by the way."_ Miw returned, utterly oblivious to the fact he had crossed a major boundary with his Wielder. _"But, to be fair. I saw you pleasuring yourself before you made that rule."_

_That doesn't matter!_ She roared back at him. The tingling sensation throughout her body was still persistent, but her anger at her Keyblade Spirit was doing a good job at replacing it. _New rule: Any other private matters you've seen of me, keep to yourself!_

"_As you wish, My Lady. Regardless, I agree with that demonic you. Why are you so hung up on your feelings of intimacy to the Master of Destiny?"_ The Spirit posited, as Kairi squirmed again. _"You two are clearly deeply in love, and that is one of the grandest expressions of love two people can share."_

_Because..._ She tried to think of a reason as to why it was wrong. It was degrading? Dirty? Nothing but mere, cheap and physical gratification? All of those reasons just seemed stupid because it was Sora... _Just, please, please Miw, try and act...normal. I'll try to not fly off the handle with you again. Let me get some sleep, okay?_

"_As you command, My Lady."_ He said, respectfully. _"And don't worry about the yelling. It doesn't bother me much at all."_

_Okay..._ Kairi then tried to focus on something other than the events of the past minutes. Something to lull her to sleep. But, when a person stops focusing on themselves, they tend to notice others. And so, Kairi noticed that her sister sleeping next to her was not sleeping peacefully, but rather, thrashing around every so often, mumbling in her sleep.

"Namine?" Kairi said, putting a hand on her shoulders. Her skin was wet and clammy. "Namine?" She said louder, rocking her back and forth.

"No...no...please, no!" Like her sister, Namine woke up in a start, catapulting up, almost clonking Kairi in the head in the process. "Oh..." She muttered, realizing it was a dream, knees hugged up to her chest under the covers.

"A nightmare, Nam?" Kairi asked, unnecessarily. The flaxen-haired girl nodded quickly, keeping her eyes down. "What about?"

Very quietly, Namine said, "...C-castle Oblivion..."

"Oh..." Kairi may not have an encyclopedic knowledge on her twin's past, but she knew well enough it wasn't enjoyable, and also wasn't surprised she had these nightmares. "Do you want to talk about them?" Whenever she had a nightmare when she was younger, she always felt amazingly better after talking with Erica.

"I...I can't..." Namine breathed, heavily, each word seemingly a battle to pronounce. Kairi began to lightly stroke her twin's hair with her left hand, right arm over her shoulder.

"Namine..." An idea then came to her. "Hold up for a second, I'll be right back with something that'll make you feel better." Kairi kicked off the covers and shot out of bed, gently exiting her room. About five minutes later, she returned, holding a carton of ice cream in one hand, two spoons dug into it. "Here." She pushed the desert to her. "If you're my sister, eating a little ice cream and talking about it will make you feel like a million Munny. And I don't care how late it is or how pissed Erica will be at us for eating her ice cream, you need some help."

"Kai...I can't...y-you don't...mmf!" Namine was silenced when the redheaded Wielder of the Light scooped a spoon up and jammed it into Namine's mouth, chocolate ice cream and all. "This shouldn't really work..." She said, after removing the spoon.

"Well, it does." Kairi chirped, victoriously. "C'mon. I had...well, not a nightmare but... I'll tell you, if you tell me." She then took a spoonful for herself, holding the spoon in between pursed lips.

"Okay...well..." Namine took another bite of ice cream for courage. "I was just having a flashback nightmare, I guess is what you could call it. About my time at Castle Oblivion... With Marluxia and Larxene." She then paused, putting a finger on her chin. "I should really try and restore Sora's memories about that episode, shouldn't I?"

"It would be nice." Kairi was smiling; already Namine was looking and sounding better. Both sisters took a few more nibbles of their smuggled treat. "So, I mean, I know those two were bad, but...do you mind giving a little details?" Namine nodded slightly.

"Yeah... I was born in that Castle, and Marluxia was the first to find me. I don't know how he saw me: as a pet, or a plaything, or a tool... But, he was very interested in me, wanting to be around me as much as possible." She shuddered, and not from the cold of the ice cream. Taking a few more bites, she continued. "I hated him. Hated him. Until Sora arrived, I was just a toy for him. He would make me clean the castle, and serve him food...hover over me...t-touch me..." Another shudder and another bite, followed by a gentle hand on her shoulder from Kairi. "He was horrible. He would beat me, constantly. For no reason sometimes. And sometimes, he would use Larxene. Even Axel, at a time. To prove his loyalty... He said, 'Don't hit the face...I l-like her pretty'..."

Tears began to well up and quiver in crystalline blue eyes, as Namine lowered her head. Instantly, Kairi hugged her new twin, cradling her against her shoulder, patting her back. "Do you want to stop...?"

"N-no." Namine said. "It does feel good...Just don't tell anyone else about this. Especially Roxas. He'd go ballistic if he found this out..."

"I promise."

"Thank you, sis..." Namine pulled out of Kairi's shoulders, smiling despite reddening eyes. "Next...Larxene wasn't as horrible as you would expect. Compared to Marluxia, I mean... She mostly just taunted me. It stung at first, but I learned not care. She only rarely struck me. Four times at the most... I think she hated me, too, but she pitied me because of how Marluxia treated me." Namine shook her head, giving a small, bitter grin. "She was odd, now that I think on it. Some days she would be putting concealer on my black eyes or giving me food when I got that cold, and then the very next, she was screaming at me, calling me a tool, a bitch... Other things..." She took two big bites of ice cream after that.

"That's all behind you now, Namine..." Kairi said after a while, holding one of her sister's hands. "You're not a tool. You're not. You're my sister, now."

"Your sister..." The blonde replied in a mutter, lowering her head again.

Kairi was there to raise it back up. "And they aren't coming back. Marluxia and Larxene can't hurt you anymore. And if by some chance they do come back," she held her arm out, and her shield appeared. "They'll have to go through me! No one lays a hand on my sister." This caused the other girl to smile.

"My knight in shining armour." Namine kissed Kairi's free hand with a small giggle.

"I thought that was Roxas?"

"Yes. Him and you. And Sora." Mindful of the shield, Namine leaned in to hug her redheaded twin tightly. "I'm lucky to have all you. Not like before. I'm not alone here..."

"Not at all." She gently kissed the side of Namine's head, a teeny tiny part of her wondering if what her Devil self said about Namine was true...

After breaking the hug, Namine looked back at Kairi. "So...?"

"So, what?"

"Are you gonna tell me about your dream?"

"Oh. Right..." She was regretting that promise. Even thinking back on it made her blush so red she was almost luminescent. "Um...well. It was me. And Sora. And we were...in his room..."

Namine gasped in start. "You had a sex dream?"

Kairi cringed, having purposely avoided using that term. _Why didn't I lie? Stupid Kairi..._ "Yes..." She eventually muttered out.

"Don't be so embarrassed, Kai. I wished I was having them more often...Better than what I do dream of... Anyways, it's nothing to be ashamed of. You love Sora, and...well. Wanna here something really bad me and Roxas did?"

Kairi's eyes bulged. "You didn't! Did you?"

"No, no, no. Not that. Man, you really are a dirty girl." Kairi's face turned a shade of red so intense Namine doubted it had a proper name. She buried her face into her pillow, as Namine laughed. "What I meant was, right before we became real, me and Roxas made a deal." Now it was Namine's turn to blush, though her's was more discreet and gracious. "Um...he wanted to see me n-naked...and I wanted to sketch him naked..."

"Nam!" Kairi rose out of her pillow, shocked by her sister's behaviour.

"What? Stop treating stuff like that as so wrong." She reprimanded, gently. "I mean, I'm not proud of that deal, but do I want it to happen? Yeah. Am I excited for when it happens and what happens during it? A bit, yes." She shrugged. "I think you might have some issues, sis."

Kairi shut her eyes, gnashing her teeth a bit. "I...You feeling better, now?" She phrased, trying to be as polite, kind, and gentle as she could be. When Namine nodded, she took back the ice cream, stepping off the bed again. "Okay, then. Goodnight Namine. Oh, and before we go back to sleep, I've been meaning to ask. What would you like for your birthday?"

"Um..." Namine thought on it for a moment. It had completely passed over her mind that she had a birthday now. August the eighteenth, only a little more than a week away. "...I wouldn't mind getting my ears pierced, to be honest."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Haven't you thought about doing it?"

"Not really." Kairi shrugged. "Just never appealed to me."

"Oh...well, what would you like?"

_Sora, handcuffed to the bed._ She shook her head. Cripes, she _did_ have issues. "Y'know what? Surprise me."

Namine huffed. "That's not fair. I told you."

"Yeah, but you could have said the same." She stuck her tongue out playfully. "Sweet dreams."

"Yeah..." Namine said, falling back down onto the bed, nestling into the pillow. "Thanks, Kairi..."

* * *

><p>After their character creation setting, Sora's <em>Dungeons &amp; Dragons<em> group met for their first official game on Tuesday the seventh, gathering once again in Tycho's basement. Once again, Tycho sat at the head of the table (as he should, being DM), with Sora, Namine, and Dayne to his right, and Arc, Amelia, and Gabe to his left. The six players sat with their character sheets and a pencil in front of them, as well as a set of dice (their own, much to Tycho's relief), and their own choice of drink sitting on the floor at their feet. The Dungeon Master in question had several sheets of paper and dice set before him as well, but all of this was blocked from the view of the players by a large plastic screen – commonly referred to as a Dungeon Master's Screen – depicting a group of adventurers battling with an army of enemies, some which were easily identifiable, like a class Red Dragon and a Displacer Beast, which looked similar to a couerl fiend. Other, like the hyena headed Gnolls, and gigantic, floating, cycloptic heads that were the Beholders, were alien to most of the table.

"So what's the game plan tonight, Ty?" Sora asked, once the group had settled.

"Well, first I was thinking that we do a brief introduction." The bushy-haired gamer returned. "The six of you can introduce everyone to your characters, give us your name, a little bit of history, you know, basic stuff. And then I will give you some background on the world my campaign is taking place in, what you mission is, and we'll let the dice do the rest of the talking. But before that," he then reached down to his feet to gather something up, "I don't typically like to use models for standard encounters, only for special ones, but I still like my PCs to have them. I didn't have time to make any, so for you player tokens, we're going to improvise." Tycho then portioned out to the team six silver-coloured chess pieces, giving a unique one to each player. Dayne was given the king, Namine the queen, Gabe had the bishop, Amelia had the rook, Arc was given the knight, which left Sora with...

"The pawn?" Sora moaned, as his piece was placed in his hand. "Why do I have to be the pawn?"

"It was the only piece left. I considered making you the knight, but it fits Arc's Rogue better." Tycho explained, though his tone suggested he wasn't one to bare through Sora's complaining. "He is much more mobile, and uses his mobility more, in theory at least. Besides, didn't you tell me you say your character was only nineteen in human years?" When he nodded, Tycho said, "There you go. You're the smallest, like the pawn."

"You know, Sora, some people consider the pawn to be just as valuable as any other piece," Amelia told him, though it fell on deaf ears, as the brunet complained again.

"But I made her six-foot-one! She can't be the pawn!"

"Wait... 'She'?" Arc repeated. "You made your character a girl." Sora nodded.

"Why?" Every other guy at the table asked.

"I dunno." He shrugged. "I mean, it's part of the game, I wanted to try something different. Why do you think I chose Ranger and chose flails as my melee weapons? At anytime I want I can whip out a huge sword and sling magic around like no ones business. What fun would it have been if I made a character similar to what I can do in real life?"

"Can't argue with that." Dayne said. He really couldn't, as he was playing a war general who acted as a major healer in battle, something he wasn't at all. Amelia and Arc were in the same boat, showing a strong initial talent in magic at the last two training sessions, and were playing purely physical character types. "Though, I still don't get why you're playing a female."

"Maybe he has issues..." Gabe brought up, taking a sip of his coke.

"I do not!" Sora snapped, getting a bit more flustered. "I'm perfectly happy being a guy." He then added, under his breath, "Though I have always wondered what it would be like to see how the other side lives."

"What was that?" Namine queried with a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing!"

Tycho clapped his hands, sharply. "Guys? A little focus. We can all make fun of Sora's gender dilemma after the game." After one final shout back from Sora, the group settled. "Dayne, please start by introducing your Warlord to the party."

"Gladly." Dayne said, placing his silver king down in front of him. "I am Aerion Blackblade, and I-"

Namine held her hands up, interrupting Dayne. "Wait, wait, wait. 'Aerion'? As in Aerion Brightflame from _A Song of Ice and Fire_?" The tall ex-Immortal smirked at that.

"I'm glad someone got the reference." He returned, though the others didn't seem to share the blonde's understanding of the allusion.

"'Song of' what?" Arc asked. "What are you two going on about?"

"They're a series of really good fantasy novels." Namine explained. Sora, Arc, and Gabe all turned to Tycho, knowing his expertise in this field.

"I tried to read them, but, the author has this weird habit when describing food that..." The DM shuddered for a moment, "That is to say they aren't well made books, but there are some off-putting elements in his tomes."

"But did you have to name your character after one of the most insane Targaryens in the series?" Amelia phrased, which got Dayne to smile again, seeing as how two people got his in-joke.

"Well, my first pick for a name was Maelys the Monstrous, and I thought we could name the party The Golden Company." He returned with a smirk. "But, don't worry, I won't drink a pot of wildfire thinking it will turn me into a dragon."

The remaining four people at the table just looked perplexed at the discussion, even Tycho, much to the surprise of Arc. "Look, Ty," he said, "If you're lost on this, imagine how the rest of us feel."

"Yeah...Well, Dayne, continue on, please."

"Right." The older man nodded. "Aerion was essentially born a stateless rogue, without nation or kingdom to call his own. He's spent about half his life learning how to be a warrior, and the other half learning how to be a leader. For the past twelve years or so, he's been wandering around from nation to nation, and mercenary band to mercenary band, plying and improving his craft, and hoping to make his dream a reality: finding a nation to serve for the end of his days."

Amelia placed her rook on the table next. "My Paladin is known as Driselle Lamont, though that is more a _nom de guerre_ and not her birth name. She was born into a mid-level Drow noble house, the fourth child to be born. As a teenager, she took up to worshipping Eiliastraee because it was considered 'rebellious' and 'hip', like a Drow version of counter-culture, except she really only did it because it was cool."

"So, you're playing a poseur?" Gabe question.

"Former poseur." She corrected, before continuing. "Her worship to Eiliastraee changed when her two eldest sisters were chosen to be sacrificed to Lolth, the chief deity of the Drow pantheon, and her parents willingly gave them up without a fuss. Driselle took it upon herself to become a more fervent worshipper of Eiliastraee, eventually becoming a self-exile from the Drow community. Her main goal is to get as many Drow as she can to rebel against the typical Drow society, but she is happy encouraging feelings of self-determination, rebellion, and a desire for freedom anywhere she travels to."

"We're gonna clash on a few issues, aren't we?" Dayne asked, referring to their characters, and themselves.

"Why? What alignment are you?"

"Lawful Neutral." The alignment system was a way to determine a character's official stance and personal view on the world at large, with a character picking any combination of Good, Lawful, Neutral, Chaotic, and Evil; save for choosing opposing alignments combinations like Good and Evil and Lawful and Chaotic. Lawful Neutral characters like Aerion were just that, law-abiding citizens with a strong sense of justice who obeyed the law almost all the time, whether the law be malicious or beneficial.

"I'm Chaotic Neutral." Amelia explained. Chaotic Neutral characters tend to do as they please, acting with their own personal interests in mind, but never being overtly malicious or helpful to others. "So yeah, we might have some issues."

"You're the only Lawful person in the party, I think." Sora pointed out.

Dayne rolled his eyes. "Oh joy."

The alignment talk was halted when Arc spoke up. "As you all know, my Rogue goes by the handle Cydin Firehart. He isn't some champion of freedom or wandering army general though, he's a much more simple man. He was born impoverished, harassed by his race, but he was eventually taken in by a master thief were he learned his craft. He only cares for three things in life and they're the only things he hunts for: wealth, women, and a worthy opponent for his blade."

"How did I know you were going to make a character like that?" Amelia said with a sidelong glance. Arc just shrugged.

"I am a well known hopeless romantic."

"Emphasis on 'hopeless'."

If Arc was fazed by the comment, he didn't show it at all. "And it's not like my character only follows one vice. He does have two more focuses, all of them equal in Cydin's eyes."

Gabe brought his character to the forefront next. "Make way mortals, for Jim Darkmagic, of the New Hampshire Darkmagics."

"Do you always have to refer to yourself by your full name?" Dayne asked.

"Or in the third-person?" Sora followed.

"Yes!" Gabe shouted, dramatically. "Jim demands respect. Jim was once a humble street magician, but he found his gift for magic was so great, that he chose to forge a pact with a being from beyond the stars! Now Jim travels the world, searching for more power and knowledge, with the dream of rising from the streets to become something great! Jim is also True Neutral! Jim does not believe in such puny mortal concepts like 'good' and 'justice'."

"Please don't talk like that for the majority of the game." Tycho replied after a moment, very deadpan. "Only when talking in character."

"And when I announce my attacks." Gabe said.

"Fine." The DM sighed. "Namine, your turn."

"Okay." Following Dayne and Amelia, Namine placed her queen piece on the table. "My character's name is Meera Illoryn. Half-Elf, but raised almost exclusively by humans for her youth. She was born into a group of travelling performers, learning how to sing, play instruments, tumble and trick, act and dance. After reaching adulthood, she sought out her lineage, leading her to, not her elven father, but his sister, Meera's aunt. She was the one who instructed in the arcane arts, and Meera chose to mix her heritage, her human performing skills, and her elven magical skills, to become the adventurer she is today. She doesn't have much of a goal nowadays, wandering around from place to place, plying her craft, but she does want to become one of the most renowned Bards in the world, if she can."

And, finally, Sora came up to expound upon his Ranger. "Alright, so I'm playing the Elven Ranger, Seras Elera, and -"

"Hold up." Dayne said. "Your name is Sora Alleris, and you're playing Seras Elera?" He looked at his fellow Keyblade Wielder with a mix of suspicion and oddness.

"What? Names are hard." Sora returned.

"Or maybe that'll be his name after the operation," snickered Arc, causing the rest of the table to laugh.

"I don't want to be a girl!" Sora said again. "I just had trouble coming up with a name, that's all. Now can I get on with my intro?"

"Go ahead, Sara-chan," Namine said with a teasing smile. "And don't worry, I'm pretty sure Kairi and I have some clothes to spare."

Everyone laughed again, as Sora fumed, his face turning the colour of a pomegranate. When it finally died down, he continued, trying to not to be annoyed the teasing. "Okay, so Seras is more or less a trauma victim. When she was younger, her family was slaughtered by a group of cannibal halflings – don't laugh, they exist! She kind of suffered from a breakdown, seeing her family killed in front of her, and ran off to live in the woods. So, she's sheltered and naive of society, with a bit of a created personality to hide her scars, though she does have a deep-seated hatred of halflings."

"Hatred of halflings, there's a new one." Dayne muttered. "So, Ty, we ready to get this show on the road then?"

"We certainly are." The brunet DM declared, standing up from his spot and grabbing what would serve as there game board: A large dry-erase board with a grid of squares clearly defined by a grid. Whenever Tycho needed to specifically define the area the group was in, with tree for a forest, or make a hallway, or even denote things like traps, hazards, water, and cliffs, he could simply mark it out with a dry-erase marker, only to erase it when there was no longer a need for it.

For the remainder of the Tuesday evening, as well as the following Thursday and Saturday, the group engaged with their game session, slowly advancing through the story Tycho had set. After clearing out a group of kobolds who were hiding in a gold mine, the party of Seras, Meera, Cydin, Driselle, Aerion, and Jim were invited with an audience of Duke Raul Esgard. It seemed the continent the party currently occupied, Shandera, was on the brink of war. The Queen of the neighbouring country of Leichster was planning to marry of her step-daughter, the Crown Princess of Leichster, to the heir to the nation of Espira in the south. With an alliance like that, Shandera would be doomed, and the rulers of Shandera had entrusted the Duke to get the Princess out of the country before she could be wed. The party was even told that killing her would be an option, if a last resort.

And so, the party made their way to the capitol of Leichster, travelling in an airship, under the guise that they were a theatre group, wanting to put an a show for her majesty. While Driselle, Jim, and Aerion distracted the audience, Seras, Meera, and Cydin sought out the Princess, who was actually very willing to be kidnapped. Unfortunately, a few bad rolls on behalf of Sora and Namine, and the fact that they didn't know the patrol schedules of the guards, meant they were soon found out. While hauling ass back to the airship, taking off and trying to get away as fast as they could, the airship was struck by cannon fire, spun out, and crashed, ending the Thursday night session, where they picked up again on Saturday the eleventh.

"Okay, let's try and do a status check, people," Dayne said, as Aerion. He then switched from being the character to being the player, asking Tycho, "Are we all here?"

"All of you, Princess included, are present." Tycho answered.

"Are we hurt?" Namine asked, as herself. Part of the game was managing what you the player knew and what your character knew, as well as balancing doing things in character, and discussing with the DM and other players.

Tycho picked up a handful of dice and rolled them behind his screen. "Everyone takes eight damage, and loses one Healing Surge." The players all made adjustments on their character sheets. Healing Surges were part of the healing mechanic of 4e, representing your character's stores and reserves of energy in times of duress and extremes. Everyone had limited Surges, all of which were at a fixed value, and most healing in the game required characters to spend Surges. When they ran out, things became a lot more dangerous in combat, as every bit of damage brought them closer to death.

"You said we had a cart and two donkeys aboard the ship. What happened to them?" Amelia asked, addressing the DM.

Tycho rolled again. "The cart is in alright condition, but one of your donkeys died."

"Well, looks like our course is clear," Dayne began, now in character again. "Load up what we can in the cart, strap it to one of the donkeys, and get out of here." He took the word "Leader" to heart when playing Aerion.

"Um...problem, Aerion," Namine as Meera retorted. "We don't know where we are." She then turned to Tycho. "Could you describe our surroundings?"

"You find yourselves in a clearing of a thickly wooded forest." Tycho informed the party. "Right now, the canopy above you is thin, moon and starlight shining through. You estimate not an hour has passed since the crash. But elsewhere, you can see the canopy is much thicker, with very little light coming through."

"We'll need to light torches then." Amelia as Driselle declared. "Well, some of use need them." Elves, Tieflings, and half-elves could see perfectly fine with only a small amount of light; Drow could see perfectly well in pitch darkness. Humans and Dragonborn weren't so lucky, however.

"We also don't know if they will be enough room for the cart to manoeuvre through the trees." Namine pointed out.

"Point taken, but we gotta try, regardless." Arc as Cydin said. "We may have some gear that might be useful still in the ship, and using the cart will be easier for the Princess." When Namine gave him a look, he continued. "We should take it initially, and if we find a spot we can't pass with the cart, we carry what we can, and either make the Princess walk, or have her ride the donkey."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but the Hellspawn has a good point" Dayne said dryly. Both Dayne and Arc had taken the enmity between Dragonborn and Tiefling to heart, rarely referring to each other by their character's names, instead using barbs like "Hellspawn" and "Lizard Breath".

"Well, first we need to see where we are exactly." Namine brought up again. "We don't want to be running blindly deeper into Leichster territory." She turned to Tycho again. "What Skill would we use to discern our location?"

"In a forest? Nature."

Skills were learned talents all character possessed, and were usually used in non-combat situations for various reasons. A character is Trained in multiple Skills, depending on their class, which gave them a sizable bonus whenever they made a Skill check. The Skills in 4e were Arcana (ones knowledge of magic), Acrobatics (ones agility, balance, and deftness), Athletics (used for climbing, jumping, and swimming), Bluff (used to lie and deceive), Diplomacy (used to persuade and convince, as well as make hostile enemies more friendly), Dungeoneering (which was foraging skills, monster lore, and navigation skills related to caves and the underground), Endurance (the stamina of the physical body, for resisting extreme weather and disease, holding ones breath, and going for time without food and drink), Heal (knowledge of injuries and how to treat them), History (knowledge of a region and chronology, pertaining to things like war, legends, and leaders), Insight (discerning intent and body language), Intimidate (influencing others through threats and hostile acts), Nature (navigation through the wilderness, recognizing natural hazards, flora, fauna, and foraging in the wild), Perception (the ability to notice clues, secret doors, find traps, follow tracks, and notice others with your eyes and ears), Religion (ones knowledge of gods, religious traditions and ceremonies, and other divine paraphernalia), Stealth (the ability to move undetected and quietly), Streetwise (your mastery at collecting gossip in towns), and Thievery (your ability to disarm traps, pick locks, and pick pockets).

"You're time to shine then, Pineapple Head." Dayne said to Sora. Seras had by far the best Nature in the party, rolling at a +9.

"Let's see what we got." Sora said, picking up his d20, which were always used for Skill checks. The dice clattered across the table, coming up with fifteen. "That's twenty-four total, then."

"Seeing the forest you're in, and knowing you were at the capitol not too long ago, Seras, you determine you have crashed in the Boundary Forest on the Angol Isthmus, to the north of Leichster, and the continent of Duran as a whole." Tycho explained to the group.

Dayne spoke again, acting as Aerion once more. "Okay. We know the Angola continent is neutral to Shandera, and has tepid relations with Leichster and Espira at best. I suggest we head north and find refuge there."

"And what would we do in Angola, Aerion?" Gabe as Jim Darkmagic (of the New Hampshire Darkmagics) brought up.

"Hide out, charter a ship, try and contact the Duke. Fact is, we can go south or north. If we go south, we're as good as dead. North we have a chance to complete this mission, even if it is as mall chance."

"I agree with Aerion." Namine said.

"I don't, but old Lizard Lips is right." Arc spoke up. "Our best chance is to break north."

"Then it's settled." Sora as Seras said, nodding. "Make another Nature check to find north, Ty?" He asked the DM. He nodded, and Sora rolled the d20 again. "Woo! Natural twenty." Any roll on the d20 that came up as an unmodified twenty was known as a "Critical Success", meaning you automatically passed the test with flying colours (and tended to get some excellent bonuses). Conversely, if you rolled an unmodified one on a d20, it was a Critical Failure, and you automatically failed the check in question.

Tycho nodded at the group. "You confidently point the party towards true north. Next, you all explain your plan to the Princess and load up the cart and the one donkey." Tycho made some more rolls. "Around half your supplies were destroyed, but you still have five bundles of ropes, three lengths of chain, a climbing kit, two ladders, two Minor Potions of Healing, and various props used for the theatre masquerade."

"Load up all the essentials," Amelia as Driselle said, speaking for the party. "And take whatever props we have left over. Specifically the costumes, I saw plenty of silk in there, and we can sell them for gold and silver, if need be."

With their plan set in motion, the group made their way through the Boundary Forest, Seras making the occasional Nature check in order to find proper paths for the cart and keep them on course. After one minor encounter with a pack of wolves, Tycho gave the group a short break as he set up for the next encounter.

"So, I just realized something guys," Arc said, as Tycho was busying drawing the map, and searching for various tokens in his massive collection.

"And what's that?" Amelia asked.

"Next Saturday is Kairi's birthday."

"Oh, so it is the same on this world as the Garden," Dayne noted.

"It's mine, too, Arc." Namine pointed out. "I mean, we are twins after all."

"Looks like no session next Saturday." Sora shrugged. "Can't really do one without Amelia and Namine."

"Just those two?" Dayne queried. "What? No boys allowed at her parties?" He phrased it as a joke.

"Yes." Sora replied, totally serious. "Ever since she was eight and started having sleepovers for her birthday. Her dad is very much against letting boys in his house overnight." Dayne snorted, muttering "Ass" under his breath.

"And yet you still get her a present every year." Gabe pointed out.

Sora crossed his arms. "She's my friend." He said, very defensively. He had been getting teased about his relationship with Kairi since they were kids, and had practically developed a reflex.

"Well, now she's your girlfriend." Arc told him, sidling up to him. "And it's her first birthday you've been a couple. AND it's her sweet sixteenth. You gotta pull out the stops for this one, buddy." Sora's cerulean eyes widened with shock.

"I hadn't thought about that one..." He muttered, eyes darting around in panic. "Oh crap. I don't know what to get her! I gotta get her something big! Something glorious!" He then moved across the room, latching himself to Namine. "What do I do, Nam! What do I do!"

"Letting go of me would be a nice start." Namine shot back, as Sora began to shake her violently. "And I'm sure you'll find a present within the week."

"No I won't. This is the most perfect girl in the universe! I have to get her something marvellous! Spectacular!"

"You're her boyfriend." Argued Amelia. "I'm sure she'll love any old thing you get her."

"Don't waste your breath, Amelia," Dayne replied. "We keep trying to tell him that, but nothing will pound that fact into his brain." He then looked over and saw that Sora was threatening to shake and rattle Namine's eyes out of her socket. He went over pried the two apart, holding Sora in a bit of a choke hold, forearm around his neck. "Settle down, kiddo. Listen, I got the day off tomorrow, and I have to get something for the girls, too. So let's check with Roxas and Silver to see where they sit on the presents thing, and we'll go shopping. Now, calm down, let's get back to the game, and if your panicky nature screws us on this, I swear, I will ram my axe up where the sun don't shine on Seras."

Back at the game table, the group found themselves and their travel blocked by a platoon of soldiers from Leichster. Men-at-arms, some crossbowmen, a handful of knights, and some generic human rabble (Minion monsters, a special type that did set amount of damage, and only had 1 HP). After a few bits of banter between the party and their enemies, the combat began.

At the beginning of a battle in D&D, every participant rolled for Initiative; a d20 roll plus your Dexterity modifier and certain other bonuses. The higher the total number, the higher you were in the initiative list, and the people with the highest number went first.

"I'll start off first." Dayne said, grabbing his die. "And remember my Combat Leader feature. Everyone in ten squares – which is to say, everyone of us – gets a +2 on their Initiative check." Everyone nodded as Dayne took his roll, followed by the other five party members. "Twenty, hot damn!."

"Twenty-one," said Sora, smiling towards Dayne.

"I'm at six," Namine said.

"Five for me." Amelia replied

"Sixteen." Answered Arc.

And, finally, Gabe rolled. "I'm sitting at twelve."

"Okay, give me a second." Tycho then began to roll his d20 several times. "The Knight Captain has eleven, the Knights are at eight, the Crossbowmen go on twenty-two, the Men-at-arms are on seventeen, and the Human Rabble are all going with a two. Oh, and the Princess has a ten. Who wants to control the Princess for this one?" Namine raised her hand, having controlled her in the last combat. "Okay, so the order is the four Crossbowmen, Seras, Aerion, then the four Men-at-arms Cydin, Gabe, the Knight Captain, the Princess, the three Knights, then Meera, Driselle, and finally, the six Rabble. So the Crossbowmen go first" Tycho then began to move the tokens representing the Crossbowmen across the board, encircling the party in a half-circle. "And they are going to unleash their quarrels on Driselle, Cydin, Meera, and Aerion." Tycho rolled the d20 four times. "12, 16, 18, and 8 against AC."

Attack rolls were dictated by a d20 roll, adding and subtracting any modifiers you had for the rolls. Each attack would target one of four defences, Armour Class (or AC), Fortitude, Reflex, and Will, and if the total of the roll and the modifier at least equalled the defence, the attack did damage.

"Misses me by a long-shot." Informed Amelia, who had the most solid defences of the six. Of the four, only Meera and Cydin ended up getting hit.

"Okay," Tycho picked up another die, "Meera takes six and Cydin takes four. That's all for them. Seras, you're up."

Combat was dictated by three types of actions: Move, Minor, Standard. Each participant in a battle got one of each every turn, but could trade them around. A Standard action could become a Move, and a Move could become a Minor; certain effects also granted characters extra actions. Standard actions were generally attacks; Move actions dictated moving, whether it was moving your standard speed, or things like dropping/standing to/from a Prone position; Minor actions were very small things, like certain Skills like Insight or Nature, drawing or sheathing weapons, applying potions, or using certain healing abilities. Free actions were special actions like talking that didn't effect a character's action queue at all.

As for attacking, player characters could perform four types of attack actions, that all took a Standard action. Basic attacks were performed with weapons and just did damage, and had no effect beyond that. The three other types of attack were known as Attack Powers, unique to each class, and were dictated by their frequency of use. At-Will Powers could be used at anytime during their turn, and could be used every single turn. They tended to be no strong than a basic attack, but usually had one or two small effects applies to them. Encounter Powers were stronger than basic attacks or At-Wills, but could only be used once per encounter, which was around five minutes in-game (or fifty rounds of combat). Daily Powers were the strongest Power in their arsenal, only being usable once per in-game day, and were supremely powerful, with plenty of effects added on, and they tended to do something even on a miss.

Before Sora took his move, Dayne waved him down. "Make sure you stay close to me. I have a plan for my turn." He said, as he was surveying the battlefield. Noting that Seras, Cydin, and Driselle were close to him, as was the Knight Captain.

"You got it." He said. "I can draw and sheathe my weapons as a free action thanks to my Quick Draw feat, so I draw my Longbow as a free action, and as my Minor, I'm placing my Hunter's Quarry on the Knight Captain, who's closest to me." Rangers could declare one enemy as their Quarry at a time, declaring the closest enemy to them as the Quarry. Once per round, when the Quarry was struck by the Ranger, the player could choose to apply an extra damage die. "Then I'll use my Twin-Strike At-Will with my Longbow." He rolled the d20 twice. "18 and 22 against AC?"

"One hit." Tycho replied.

"Then he takes," Sora rolled the d10 for his Longbow, and then the d8 for his Quarry damage. "Twelve damage. And, I'll sheath my bow and draw my Flail and Scourge as a free action, to end my turn."

"Everyone make room for Aerion!" Dayne declared, moving his king two spaces up. "And I'm gonna show you how a master tactician works. I'm targeting the Knight Captain with my Daily Power, Lamb to the Slaughter!" He picked up the d20 as well, rolling it around in his hand in preparation. "This is against his Will, and if it hits, he's gonna be in a world of hurt... Nineteen!" Tycho confirmed it was a hit. "Okay then, I now get to pull him five squares," Dayne moved the Knight Captain token so it was adjacent with his king. "Then, up to three allies with five squares that have line of sight or can hear me can perform a charge attack as a free action. And it looks like Cydin, Seras, and Driselle all qualify for that."

"Oh, you son of a bitch!" Tycho swore, as Amelia, Arc, and Sora moved their pieces into position. The four chess pieces were clustered around the cardboard token like a cross.

"And because this is a charge, I can use my Ardent Strike power in place of a basic attack." Amelia picked up her d20 and rolled. "Nineteen versus AC?" Again, Tycho signalled it was a hit. "Then that's 1d10 plus my Charisma modifier damage." She rolled the proper dice. "Thirteen damage!"

"I'm up next, and like Amelia, I can use a Power in a charge in place of a basic attack." Arc picked up his d20 as he explained. "But the Power I can use is my Daily, Handspring Assault! Nineteen versus AC hits, so he takes... twenty-three more damage. And-"

"Oh jeez, what now?" Tycho lamented, as Dayne had engineered the downfall of his big creature for the encounter.

"Well, I'm flanking him with Aerion, so I get combat advantage, meaning I can use my Sneak Attack." He rolled 2d6 for the extra damage. "That's another eight."

"Well, I feel bad not being able to do any fancy stuff like that," Sora said. "But I guess I'll just hit him with my Flail." Sora managed to roll a successful twenty-three for his attack roll, and then inflicted another ten damage. Tycho looked on in dismay as the party had just gang-raped his baddie with one well placed move.

"Okay, so that's...sixty-six damage total in the two turns! For the love of Boccob!" Tycho swore again, removing the token from the map. "Aerion, you call out at the Captain, challenging him to battle. You besmirch his honour, causing him to charge into you. But, what he didn't expect, was a clever trap. Before he can attack you, Driselle charges forth, brandishing her broadsword and laying it into his shoulder. Then, Seras jumps out, crushing his helmet with a swing of her flail. Finally, Cydin comes leaping and tumbling through the air, finding a gap in the back of the knight's armour, and skewering him straight through with his rapier, felling him with the fatal blow."

The party whooped in victory, as Dayne leaned back in his chair, accepting high-fives from his teammates, grinning broadly. "I love it when a plan comes together."

* * *

><p>"Five stores, and I still don't have a bloody idea what to get her. Either of them!" Sora moaned, as he, Riku, Roxas, Kalyn, and Dayne travelled down Rivedia Street, colloquially known as Salm's shopping centre.<p>

"Just settle down, Sora, we'll find something." Roxas assured him. "Look, the rest of us don't have anything for either of them, and none of us are freaking out."

"I don't know what either of you two are talking about, I'm finished for the two of them." Kalyn said, lugging a bag with her. Kairi had called her up last night telling her she had been invited to the sleepover, something she had great reservations about. Being stuck in a house with Kairi and some of her friends for hours on end did not excite her at all.

"I'm still not sure about your choice of gift," Riku said.

"Why? This is what I would want for my birthday." Kalyn had found herself drawn to the scent of cinnamon and a high-class bakery, resulting in her buying two boxes of gourmet chocolates for each twin.

"When is your birthday, by chance?" Riku asked, as casual as possible.

Kalyn chewed her lip for a few seconds. "I think Ivalice and Salm use different calendars, so we're gonna have to do some math."

"The point Riku was trying to make though, is that girls don't usually buy each other boxes of chocolate for their birthday," Roxas pointed out to the foreigner. "Stuff like that usually falls under the category of 'lover's gifts'."

The Ivalician rolled her eyes. "Yes. Because I want to jump Red's bones _so_ badly." She phrased sarcastically, before snorting. "She's even more uptight than you, Rox." She then turned to Sora. "Say, why didn't you get her any chocolate, if it's a lover's gift."

"'Cause you already got her some. Besides, I want to get her something really special." Sora explained, eyes peering down every which way, looking for the something in question.

"Why don't you bake her something?" Roxas asked, resulting in Sora shaking his head.

"Mom's making her a red velvet cake for next week. It's her favourite." The other four sighed. It was like pulling teeth.

Turning the conversation around, Dayne spoke to Roxas. "What about you? You've been like the opposite of Pineapple Head. What're you thinking about getting Namine?" The blond teen shrugged. "Well, what about art supplies?"

"No." He said back. "She went on a big binge the second day back. Pencils and pens and felts and all sorts of stuff. Besides, I want it to be a little bit romantic. I'm not going out of my mind like Sora here, but it would be nice if I could get something special." He then turned his head left. "Hey, why don't we head in there?" He pointed towards an electronics and gadget store.

"Really?" Dayne titled his head. "You went on about how you want your gift to be romantic, and then you point out an electronics store?"

"Hey, I still need to get a gift for Kairi, Sora needs to get one for Namine, and you two have to get your gifts. I imagine we can get something from there."

"Well, just hurry it up." Kalyn barked at them as they entered the store. "I don't want these to melt."

The five entered the store, taking a moment to browse around the various gadgetry, before Riku spoke up, "Hey, guys, I just remembered something. Tidus was talking the other day about he and the guys all pitched in and got Namine an iPod. Kairi doesn't have one, does she?"

"No." Sora answered. His eyes then opened in realization, as he went over to a certain section in the store.

"Well, how about you two and me," he motioned to Roxas and Dayne, "Split one between the three of us."

"Sounds like a good idea." Roxas agreed.

"I..." Dayne began, before stopping himself, as his memory flicked back to a month prior. "You two can go in on it together, I actually already have something for her. Something I bet she really wants to see."

Riku raised an eyebrow. "What is it? And when did you get it?" Roxas was handing the silver-haired teen his share of the munny for the music device.

"It's not for you to know, I can tell you that much," Dayne replied. "And I got it back on the Garden last month."

Before anyone could ask a follow up question, Sora called out to his brother. "Hey, Roxas? How does Namine feel about getting like photography and stuff?"

"Dunno." He walked over to where Sora was standing, seeing his twin was looking over the digital cameras. "But, it is a kind of art form, and I bet she would really appreciate having one." Sora nodded along.

"So how about me, Riku, Dayne split it? Sound good guys." Both older males responded affirmatively and Sora picked up a camera he thought was good and reasonably priced.

"And now we just have us lover boys." Roxas said, as Riku paid for the iPod, referring to himself and Sora, of course. He thought on it for a minute, before sighing aloud. "Man... I need a woman's advice."

"Um...hello?" Kalyn waved her arms, sounding a little insulted.

"I said a woman. Not a mood-swinging bitch."

Kalyn punched him in the shoulder. Hard. "I am a woman you uptight dolt! Now, can you cook?" Roxas shook his head, while rubbing his arm. "Can you sing? Play an instrument?" Again, he gave a no. "Then get her tickets to a show, you talentless lump!" She punched in the arm again, before turning around so suddenly, he almost clocked him in the head with her shopping bag.

"...That's actually a very good idea..." Roxas said in disbelief, still rubbing his arm. "Um...thanks, Kalyn." The Ivalician flipped him off. "Oh, how lovely. I'm beginning to see that charm Riku enjoys so much..." He muttered, low enough so that only he hit him.

"So you're getting her theatre tickets?" Sora asked. "Man, why didn't I think of that?" He bemoaned loudly, as Dayne finished paying for the camera.

Fed up with Sora's whining, Kalyn tromped over to him, with a rather mean look in her eyes. "You know, you can try and debate this without whining like a little child!" She then clutched on his crown pendant, yanking down and releasing it with such force that it bounced up and almost struck Sora in the forehead.

"Hey!" He snatched the free bouncing pendant with his bare hand. "Don't touch that, you hear!" He shouted down at her. "You don't touch my necklace!" Another bolt of realization seemed to have struck Sora, as he blinked in surprise. "Um...You guys can head home if you want. I know exactly what I'm going to get her. See you all around." Sora darted out the store and down the street, a smile on his face, remembering a certain incident from when they were seven-years-old.

* * *

><p><strong>Please Review<br>**

**SirAngelo**


	5. The Silver Sun

_(A large banner reading "Happy Halloween 2011" hangs up high, with the main cast setting up decorations, all in costume. Sora in his vampiric Halloween Town outfit, Riku as Soma from _Castlevania_, Roxas dressed as Cloud, and Kairi, Namine, and Kalyn as Sailors Moon, Mercury, and Jupiter, respectively. Angelo appears, smiling)_

_Angel_o: _Hey everyone! I know the chapter is later, but-_

_Kairi: Why are you in such a happy mood? I was expecting you to come out and whine about your life some more.  
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_Angelo (scratches his cheek nervously): Hey, can't I just be happy for once? Anyways, I know-_

_Namine: And why aren't you in costume._

_Angelo: Eh, didn't have anything ready. No big deal. Now, if I can go on without being-_

_Kalyn: Wait! So he gets to be all comfortable and I have to sacrifice my dignity to wear this thing! Not to mention these boots are killing my feet._

_Roxas: Hold on, shouldn't Kairi be Jupiter? I mean, she - ahem - does have the "most talent", if you catch my drift._

_Angelo: Guys! Could I please go through my spiel without being interrupted? Okay, I know this chapter is pretty late, I just had difficulty at points. But, I will tell you that in my inactivity I have been planning stuff for the future. And I mean I have been working. Yeah, I still need a few worlds for the next fic, but I'm really like how this is all coming together. I can't openly tell you everything, but... I'm just really excited for the future, man! My current plan is to either do one chapter in November, and then two and the trailer in December, or two in November, and the finale and trailer in December. This way I can start the new fic in the new year.  
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_One thing I can tell you is I have gotten permission from my tabletop group to include a world based on our campaign. It probably won't show up in the next fic, but I can safely tell you that we will be showcasing the misadventures of Juste St. Sange, the Dragonborn Paladin of the Raven Queen, Annabelle Charr, the Human Cleric of Pelor, Lilleanne, the Elf Runepriest of Erathis, Obsidion, the Sharmind Warlock of the Star Pact, Pherion the Eternal, the Deva Invoker of Sehanine, and Vydrick Hellbrand, the Elf Ranger. Or, as we like to dub them, Team Holier Than Thou!_

_Also, in my offtime, I've been going on a bit of a tokusatsu kick. I've been really getting into Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, and all it's awesomeness, and I've recently been inducted into the Kamen Rider franchise. I started watching the current series, Kamen Rider Fourze, simply because the head writer is the guy who wrote Gurren Lagann. The show sold me when I saw Fourze's finisher: rocket powered drill kick, baby! I've also been starting to watch Kamen Rider OOO, and I'm thinking of giving W and Decade a try as well._

_Finally, in addition to the current contest, there is going to be another ongoing one, with the details of it at the bottom. Check it out, and have fun reading!_

* * *

><p>The Silver Sun<p>

"_Thank you for coming on such short notice, Mr and Mrs. Alleris. Please, sit down."_

_The two parents did as they were bid, entering the crammed office, breathing in the stale air that lingered through the room entirely. The man who ushered them in was a stocky, heavyset man, years past fifty, with a head as smooth as an egg, a massive walrus moustache, and even more massive jowls that quivered and shook every time the man spoke. All of this made him look even more like a walrus, beyond even his moustache. The walrus like man was sitting behind a rather large and lavish hardwood desk, three chairs set up in front of the desk._

"_What did you call us in for, Principal Ohara?" Allison addressed the man, not wasting anytime to inquire the meaning of this visit. Before he could respond, Allison began to take a seat, noticing the middle chair was occupied. "Sora! What happened to you?"_

_The seven-year-old boy sat on the chair, legs dangling over the edge, kicking the air, looking at the floor, sullenly. Even without seeing his face, all three adults present could see the boy's clothing was dirty and ragged, with a few holes torn into the material. His knuckles and knees were badly scraped, and when he raised his head to answer his mother's cry, she could also see a bruised and bandaged cheek, another bandage over his eye, and the skin around his left eye was red, puffy, and swollen._

"_What happened?" She cried again, mother instinct's kicking in, as she put her arms around her only child, as if she could protect him from the already inflicted injuries. "Did he get into another fight? Or did someone attack him?"_

_The walrus man, one Mr. Ohara, current principal of Salm Elementary School, cleared his throat, causing his jowls to jiggle. "I'm afraid it is much worse than that." He informed. Allison Alleris was no stranger to his office, seeing as her son was developing a streak of delinquency. "Today, during the lunch hour, you son assailed a group of around six fellow students with this." From behind his desk, the principal pulled out an old toy sword, chipping paint and several notches into the wood. "All six were sent to the nurse's office with injuries, and it took a teacher to remove your son from the melee he caused." Allison's eyes quivered at the news, as he hold on Sora loosened up a bit. Sora looked way from her, eyes trained on the floor again._

"_H-he attacked them?" She repeated, with a wavering voice._

"_Seemingly unprovoked, I might add."_

"_It wasn't!" Sora yelled, eyes constantly focused on the floor, not even bothering to look up. "They had been picking on Kairi for weeks. I had to do something. I had to!"_

"_Young man, when you speak to an adult, you must look them in the eye to show them proper respect." Ohara reprimanded his young student. Slowly, the brunet boy did such, but was giving his principal the fiercest glare a seven-year-old child could muster. "Even if you were acting out of concern for you friend, you acted in an inappropriate manner. You should have gotten a teacher and-"_

"_I did! I did!" He yelled again. "I did, and they did nothing. Nothing changed!" Ohara looked back at Sora, his jowls shaking nervously._

"_Young man, I will not have you tell lies in my office." He said, in a tone so cold that it suggested his dislike of the young student sitting before him. "If you had told a teacher about any bullying incident, I am certain the incident would stop. That is the school that I have made, one of safety and security, and you jeopardized that by attacking those student with this." He gave the toy sword an errant flick across his desk, then muttering, "I still wonder how he acquired something like that..."_

"_It's mine," Dias stated instantly, eyeing the sword he had given Sora._

"_What?" Allison asked, looking across to her husband. Ohara gave him a look as well, but not as soft as the one his wife gave._

"_It's mine." Dias repeated. "I gave it to Sora and taught him how to use if after he explained the situation with Kairi."_

"_You what?" Allison asked again, sounding rather distressed. Dias just shrugged._

"_He was concerned for the safety of his friend. What was he suppose to do?"_

"_Inform a teacher." Ohara suggested sternly._

"_He said he did, and that it didn't solve the problem." Dias countered._

"_And you believed him?"_

_The man with sand blond hair looked at the older man, absolutely shocked that the previous sentence was spoken in seriousness. "He's my son." Dias returned, his tone flat, and quite frankly, insulted by the comment._

_Allison shook her head, ending the conversation before something unpleasant was said. "Sir, please, Sora didn't mean to do this." She pleaded to the older man. "He just got a crazy idea from his father, and-" Ohara raised a hand, causing her to stop._

"_Mrs. Alleris, I'm afraid my hands are tied on this matter." He explained, though his voice suggested he didn't truly care for the situation. "This one time too many that Sora has broken the rules, proven himself a delinquent, and endangered his fellow students. The only thing I can do at this point is to suspend him for the rest of today, and have it continue until the Monday after next." Allison's face turned milk white at the proclamation, while Sora looked up to his mother in wonderment. He'd never seen her so worried and afraid. "And if another incident like this were to occur, them I'm afraid expulsion would be the only measure I could take."_

_Allison looked on at the scene with a dazed look. "I-I see..." She gathered herself up, standing straight. "Well...Thank you for your time, Mr. Ohara... Let's go home, boys..."_

"_I want my sword back." Dias declared, arms crossed over his chest._

"_Dias, just drop it!" Allison snapped, sounding impatient and fretful._

_Her husband just held strong and fast. "It's my property, and I've had it since I was five." He held out his hand expectantly. "I would like it back." He then looked back at his wife and said, "Allie, go, please. I can see you're troubled, so just go back to the restaurant and do what you have to do. I'll take Sora home and keep him out of trouble until you get back." Not wanting to argue, Allison began to take her leave, but not before giving Sora a look that said "We'll be having a talk when I get home, young man." And that left only Dias, Sora, and Ohara._

_The walrus man looked hesitantly at Dias, his eyes flinching after finding Dias's own bright green ones. Before long, he picked up the toy sword and handed it off to Dias, holding it by it's hilt. "If I find this in my school again, I will end up breaking out corporal punishment on your son, and this toy will end up in my kindling pile..." He tried to seem threatening, but his quaking jowls ruined the effect._

_Dias just snatched the sword, ripping it out of Ohara's hand. "Never offer a sword blade first..." He muttered under his breath, flipping the sword around and catching it by the hilt. Both father and son stood to leave, but were stopped when Ohara threw more of his two cents into the situation._

"_I pray that your wife can do a better job of making your child a functional member of society. All you managed to make was a delinquent."_

_Instantly, Dias spun around, levelling the toy sword with the face of the principal. Ohara jumped so violently, one would think that Dias was pointing live steel at him._

"_Don't threaten my son," Dias warned him, in a grave tone, eyes fierce and bright. "Don't insult my parenting skills, and don't presume you know what's best for my son!" He added a physical exclamation point to the tirade by slamming the sword on the top of the desk, a loud, hard "SMACK" echoing through the office, as Ohara jumped again. "Come on, Sora..." With one hand, Dias ushered his son out of the office and to the open air hallways of the school._

_Father and son walked in quiet tandem for a few minutes, eventually leaving school grounds and heading onto the neighbourhood streets, Dias holding onto one of his Sora's small hands, while his old toy sword rested at his side, in his other hand. Eventually, Sora managed to muster up some courage, and asked his dad in a small voice, "...Is mommy mad at me?"_

"_Mad?" Dias repeated. Allison could be fierce, a little fiery, too, it came with the territory of managing a restaurant, a lazy husband, and a young child with a penchant for trouble, but she wasn't one for real anger. "I wouldn't say so, no. A little disappointed, maybe, but not mad at you."_

"_'Dis'ppointed'?" Sora looked up at his father._

_Dias suddenly came to a stop in the middle of the sidewalk, Sora as well. "She gets very, very worried when stuff like this happens Sora." Dias explained to his son, kneeling down next to him. "When you get in fights, or sent home early, or get detentions. She really does worry because she wants what's best for you, and she has it set in her head that you need schooling for that." Dias laughed internally; his formal education ended at fifteen and he had managed just fine. "She's still very much loves you, Sora, and she wouldn't change you for the world, she just can't help but worry about you." _Both of us can't help it..._ He thought. _You're our one and only. Our little miracle...

"_I won't." Sora muttered. Dias could see that tears were beginning to form in his son's eyes. He worried about his mother as much as she did about him. "I won't make her worry anymore...I-I'll be good for mommy, I promise..."_

"_She'll be glad to hear it." Dias said, mussing up his hair with one hand. "But, I want to tell you something first. You knew you would get in trouble today when you protected Kairi, didn't you?" When Sora nodded, he continued. "And yet you still went through with it. Never be afraid to do something good just because you might get hurt or punished. Always act like you did today, because it take real courage." Dias smiled proudly at his son. "I'm real happy you did a thing like that, Sora."_

_Despite the tears still welling in his eyes, Sora smiled back, jumping into his father's arms and delivering a hug. "Thanks daddy..."_

* * *

><p>"S-Sora..." Kairi moaned, under her breath, a faint smile on her lips and a deeper blush crossing her face. Her hands clutched onto a thick field of soft brown hair, as her body squirmed in a nervous fit. The "beast" within her was hungry today it seemed, and it was certainly getting a lion's share of sustenance.<p>

"You're really getting into this, Kai..." Muttered the object of her desires. Sora currently had Kairi cradled on his lap, resting against the backboard of his bed, planting little nips and strong kisses onto her neck. He smirked before kissing her on the hollow of her throat, enjoying the coos and content sighs passing her lips.

"I can't help it..." She confessed in between the fairly immodest sounds coming from her. The redhead was rather surprised by the skills of her boyfriend, who – to the best of her knowledge – had been single for the entirety of his life. "You sure you haven't done this with anyone else?" Ever since returning home, and Kairi's spat with her father, she tried to spend more quality, private time with Sora, which usually meant going over to his house, unless he was caught by her father on an off-chance, and more fireworks started up. Of course, quality time in a private location led to some quality, private make-out sessions between the two young lovers.

Sora chuckled, almost nervously, before planting another two kisses, on her neck and right cheek. "Maybe I have." Sora said with a playful smirk, one which Kairi mirrored, catching onto the joke. "I mean, you've seen some of the girls I've met on my travels, how beautiful they are. Belle, Jasmine, Aerith, Yuffie, Yuna, Rikku, Tifa."

"Who?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, right, you haven't met Tifa yet."

Kairi then pulled away from him, rising as high as she could while sitting on two knees. "And I knew it, you little bugger!" She told him, haughtily, hands on her hips. "I knew you found the Gullwings attractive." Sora chuckled a bit, his face reddening, remembering the true forms of the three treasure hunters and the physically impossible nosebleed he had gotten.

"Hey, it's like I told your sister the other night," he returned, trying not to think too much of the Gullwings (he was afraid he would get a nosebleed just from _thinking_ about the trio), "We've met plenty of attractive people along the way. I've noticed, but I doubt I'm the only one." He then looked at her in mock accusation and said, "Right...?"

"I might have." She said teasingly, smiling at the spike-haired boy. The beast in her was starting to snarl in revolt, being deprived of it's stimulus. "I mean, Allister was a bit of a doof, but he was charming, and I think it's well established that I like charming doofs." They both shared a laugh at that. "You're really fine with hearing this?"

Sora just shrugged. "Well, I dunno. It doesn't bother me, if that's what you're asking."

"Why not?"

"You've noticed a few other guys are attractive. No big deal." He replied, in a nonchalant manner. "And if it turns out you have crushes on them, so what? You're with me for the time being, and you're just human, Kai." The redhead smiled at that, laughing a bit, too.

"You're too weird sometimes, Sora." He looked at her, causing her to explain. "I mean, you're just so relaxed, you rarely ever get worried about anything." She said to the boy who, just a day prior, was madly panicking over deciding on a birthday present for her. "I envy that." Sora smiled again, that big, warm smile of his that showed off all his pearly whites in one go. Kairi regarded the brunet for a moment, a finger pressed up against her lips, studying her longtime friend and now boyfriend for a time. "Say, do you think you could take your shirt off?"

"W-what?" Sora stammered, taken off-guard by the sudden question.

She tilted her head, still looking at him. "I just...Well, you just had your chance to 'pet' me, so now I want my turn today." The beast in her purred contently, something she did her best to ignore.

The Keyblade Wielder nodded a long with a thin smile, pulling his t-shirt over his head, taking care to keep his necklace on at the same time, and discarding it to the floor, baring his chest as requested. Kairi continued to watch him silently, causing Sora to chuckle nervously at the strong gaze analyzing him, the studious purple-blue eyes that were taking in every bit of his nude upper body.

Not a few days ago, the large group of teenagers had congregated to the beaches of Salm, Sora and Kairi included, and Kairi had noticed something that had begun to stir something in her (looking back, it was no wonder that the dream she had involving herself and Sora occurred the night of this venture). Kairi had noticed something with Sora, and she wanted confirmation for her findings. Sora had always been small and skinny, ever since he was a child. And although he couldn't be called "small" anymore (at least by the standard of Salm) he was still thin, notably in his arms and legs. But a person doesn't fight off all manners of villain and monsters for a year and a half without having something to show for it. All the fat on Sora's arms, legs, and chest had slowly burned away throughout his adventures, leaving them relatively skinny, but they were now almost nothing but compact, hard muscle, perfectly trimmed and toned.

To say that the beast stirred and Kairi blushed at the sight of the half-nude Keyblader was a small understatement.

After the silent study, Kairi chose to dive into the brunet's arms and chest, almost causing him to dash his head against the backboard of the bed, and planted a heated kiss on his lips, shutting her eyes, and pressing her body up against his, trying to ignore the fire building in her. _This is so nice..._ She thought blissfully, despite her protests. Sora seemed to be enjoying himself, too, wrapping his arms around her back, a content sound resonating from him. _I don't think I can fight these feelings that much longer... Maybe I should ask him now?_ It was a fairly opportune time for such a request, as both of Sora's parents would be at work for another few hours, and Roxas and Namine had left for one reason her another. _But what would he say? Would he be freaked out that I asked this so suddenly and never want to see me again, or is he as wanting as me?_ As the two broke from the kiss, the scenarios ran in her mind. _He would either say: "Wow Kairi, you're such a naughty girl, and I want to do naughty things with you" or "Kairi, settle down. You're moving too fast. I like you, but I don't feel that way about you"._ Despite the concern of her thoughts, she looked back at him with an almost dazed look, blushing heavily.

"_You never learn, do you hot stuff?"_ Her daze broke at the voice, recognizing instantly as she looked for it. Wincing, she saw her Devil self popping out of the top of her tank top, nestled in her cleavage (which she oddly couldn't feel). _"He's a teenage boy. Of course he will say yes, dummy!"_

"Kairi, what are you looking at?" Sora asked, causing her to look at him. Apparently, he could not see the miniature version of herself dressed as a slut resting in between her breasts. _So, either those two are invisible,_ she surmised to herself, _Or this helps my whole "I'm going insane" argument._

"Nothing, Sora, just lost in thought." She said back, just when the yin to the Devil's yang popped into existence, hovering in front of her face.

"_I do hope you're not listening to that harlot's advice."_ Angel Kairi chided to the real article. _"You've know Sora all your life, are you really willing to throw away a life long friendship for a chance at physical gratification?"_

_Okay, I am not that preachy!_ Kairi mentally noted at the verbal assault of the Angel. _At least I hope I'm not..._

"_Of course she is!"_ Devil Kairi rose from her resting place, to join her Angel counterpart, hands on her hips, much like the real Kairi. _"We're suppose to help and guide her. Do you know how much of help doing this will be?"_

"_I find it hard to believe that getting her and Sora to engage in...intercourse will help much at all."_

"_And what will happen if she goes into battle against one of those new Nobodies and can't fight 'cause all she's thinking about is how it feels to have your first time? Huh? Huh?"_ Much to her anger, the Angel was silenced, while the Devil gloated with a wicked smile. _"That's my issue with you angel guys. You act all high and mighty, but you're still a part of Kairi. So a part of you wants to jump Sora's bones as much as the both of us do. I may be naughty and a bit evil, but at least I'm honest, and not some grandstanding, lying hypocrite!"_

_Both of you, shut it!_ Kairi snapped mentally, swatting the two spiritual manifestations or whatever they hell they were, with a stiff slap of her hand. Unfortunately, the two happened to vanish the moment before Kairi's hand connected, resulting in her smacking herself in the face.

Sora snickered a bit at this. After being deathly still and quiet for close to a minute, Kairi all of a sudden smacks herself in the face. How could he not laugh? "Um...you okay, Kai?"

"Yeah, I am." She lied, laughing as well as to brush off what just happened. "Just trying to swat a mosquito. A very, _very_ annoying mosquito. Two of them, actually..." With an easy smile, the redhead decided to change the subject. "Say, I know I can't get you guys into my birthday party, but I was thinking, maybe we could do something tomorrow? Like, a bit of a birthday thing, so you guys don't feel left out. You and me, and Namine, Roxas, Riku, and Dayne?"

Sora looked at her for a moment, before saying, "Kairi...Riku isn't gonna..." He trailed off, not sure how to finish his thought. "Tomorrow's the fourteenth, remember?" He finally replied with. Kairi's eyes went wide, as she realized what it meant.

"Oh..." The Garden native brushed her hair to the side, looking kind of sheepish. "I mean...he's been gone for so long, all of that just skipped my mind." The Wielder of Light then turned back to her boyfriend. "How...how do you think he'll take it? He hasn't done it in two years..."

Sora simply replied with, "It's Riku. He'll be okay." She nodded, and silence fell again, neither of them wanting to continue with the awkward subject.

"Hmm..." Kairi looked up for a moment. "You know, now that I've talked about my birthday, I have a question I've been dying to ask."

"What is it?"

Kairi shut her eyes and gave Sora a sugary sweet smile. "What did you get me?" She requested, in the kindest, most innocent and cute tone she could manage without sounding ridiculous.

"Not telling." The brunet returned, with a cheeky grin, causing Kairi to pout.

"Oh, come on, Sora...Please, tell me! Pretty please with ice cream and a paopu on top!" Sora laughed by himself at how much of a little girl Kairi sounded like. Most of the time, Kairi could manage to pry anything out of Sora with this kind of act, but he was adamant to keep this one thing a secret until Saturday. When the childish pleading didn't get her anywhere, Kairi hunkered down atop Sora's chest, bringing her face right up against his, looking up. All of a sudden, her eyes went wide, almost watery looking, as her pouted lips began to tremble. For good measure, she batted her eyelashes once or twice, and made a soft whining sound.

For once in his short life, Sora stood firm, withstanding Kairi's puppy dog eyes. Instead, he simply kissed her on the tip of her nose. "Nice try, but I'm not telling." He said, in a sing-song voice. "You really can't wait five days?"

"Oh, I can." Kairi suddenly returned to normal, resting on her knees again, and sitting high above Sora, her face no longer in the form of a pitiful plea. "But the fact that you managed to stave off the puppy doge eyes and my whining tells me it's got to be something fantastic!"

The two laughed again, Sora smiling broadly at such a declaration, and hoping she hadn't set her expectations too high. About a minute after, when he was sure Kairi wasn't looking, Sora spared a glance towards where had stashed the jewelry box he had bought yesterday afternoon. _I think it's fantastic, Kairi. And I do think you're gonna love it._

* * *

><p>At six A.M. on August the fourteenth, Riku's alarm clock came blaring to life.<p>

"_A happy Tuesday morning to all our listeners. The current time is six in the morning, Pacific Island Rim Time, and it is currently twenty-two degrees Celsius, with an expected high of thirty-three today. The marine layer is also expected to burn off earlier today than is normal, at around nine-seventeen in the morning. Your three day forecast is..."_

The sounds of the morning weather report from the local radio station came out of the device, very loud and kind of distorted. As with every morning, the sounds of the radio proved enough to rouse the silver-haired team out of his slumber, jolting upright in bed, and peering through bleary eyes. With not even a minute passed since the forecast started, Riku, clambered over to the other end of his bed, and stretched his arm out to the desk in front of him, shutting off the alarm with the mechanical ease that came from an every morning ritual.

But other than the alarm, this wouldn't be an everyday, regular morning for him (even now it was breaking the mould, as he normally didn't get up on a Summer weekday at six in the morning. No, this was going to be a very special morning that came once every year.

It was not a day Riku looked forward to.

After sitting in his dark room for a few minutes, just watching the numbers change on his clock, the Warrior of Dawn lurched out of bed, staggering half asleep across the hallway and into the bathroom for a quick shower, just wanting to wash yesterday's dirt from his body and give his hair a quick shampoo. He didn't have a lot of time to waste this morning, he decided when he pulled back the sliding door of the shower.

"Good morning, Master Riku!" Riku's eyes shot open at the who was awaiting him outside the shower.

Dawn.

Floating above the bathroom floor.

Her holding a towel that was covering her mid-section, and every other part of her baring skin.

"ACK!"

Riku's foot wavered on the slippery floor after seeing his attractive and presumably nude Keyblade Spirit before him, causing him to lose all balance and bash his head against the wall of the shower with a loud and brutal _crack_.

Dawn just smiled lightly though, mercury silver eyes lighting up at the sight. "You're so easy to surprise, Master." She chortled in a very bright manner, causing the gold nimbus surrounding her skin to light up a bit more.

"Damn it, Dawn..." Riku was rubbing the back of his head. He could feel a lump growing on the skin hidden by his silver locks. He then realized that he was sitting down, legs spread open, no clothes on, and doing all this before Dawn.

The energetic Spirit began to laugh and giggle even more at the sight of Riku blushing furiously, stammering incoherently, and instantly crossing his legs and lowering his hand over his privates.

"Dawn!" Riku finally managed to half-shout, trying to keep the commotion down so his mother wouldn't check in on him. "I'm naked! You're naked! How are you even here?"

"Settle down, Riku-kun." Dawn said, tossing her head side to side. Her shimmering gold hair was now curled, done in two loose pig tails that hung over her shoulders, as opposed to the braid it was normally in. "One, this isn't the first time I've seen you nude. Two-"

"WHAT!"

"Well, I live in your heart. I am in communion with your senses. So, I can see what you see, including those mornings when you decided to check out your nude bod in the mirror."

"I am not 'checking myself out'!" Riku snapped back, getting back to his feet, but doing everything to keep his privates covered, regardless of what Dawn had already seen. "And I would prefer if you respected my privacy."

"Oh, come now." The Spirit smiled coyly. "I've seen you in more private and embarrassing matters, Master." Riku's face turned bright red again, as Dawn laughed some more. "Anyways, two," with one swift motion, Dawn threw away the towel, which fluttered over Riku's face. He ripped it away the towel to see the barefoot Spirit was now standing on the bathroom floor, wearing a short, black and white sundress. "I'm not naked. I'm cooky and kinky, but I don't go that far." She admonished with a wag of her finger. "As for your third question, Master, well, Spirits have the ability to manifest themselves in the real world. We just don't tend to do it though, since Keyblade Warriors are suppose to discover their Spirits on their own, and it deprives you of your actual Keyblade when we manifest. Satisfied?"

Riku wrapped the towel around his waist and finally stepped out of the shower. "Why do you keep calling me Master?"

For a moment, Riku saw Dawn's eyes flicker in hesitation before she replied. "It's a habit my old teacher instilled in me... She said Spirits should show respect to their bearers, and address them in such a manner."

"So it's done in respect and formality then? I'm fine with that..." The teenage Keyblader moved over to the sink opposite the shower, and taking out a comb from underneath the counter.

Dawn was not finished, though. "Well, yes. Although..." She skipped over to him, standing behind him and smiling mischievously, as Riku began to towel off his hair, before combing it straight. "I could use it in a less formal manner if you'd want."

"No." He said instantaneously. Today was not a day he would tolerate her antics.

Still, however, she continued. "Oh, Master, I've been such a bad girl!" She moaned from behind him, causing him to shut his eyes. "Yes, My Master, I do deserve a spanking! Oh-"

"Dawn. Can you read my memories?" Riku did not raise his voice with the sentence, or even say it in a menacing manner. He just brought it forth in a casual manner, as if they were having an everyday conversation. Yes, Riku was a little frustrated with her, but he did value the weird friendship he had with the Spirit, and he knew he needed to get along with her if he was to be at his strongest.

The blonde was a little stunned at the casual manner of Riku's words. "Um...yeah. Of course I can." She replied after a moment. "I spend most of my day going through your early life."

"Then you should know this day is important to me." He said coolly. "I want to have some privacy for most of the day, at least for the first couple hours. Is that understood?"

From the reflection in the mirror, Riku could see Dawn looking at him with her big, expressive eyes. _Yeah. She knows, now_.

"Yeah...I'll entertain myself for a bit, Riku. See you around." Dawn nodded at him, before her body seemingly evaporated into winding trails of black and gold mist. All of sudden, Riku felt a warm and comforting little feeling spread in his heart, as she returned to her resting place.

In the past few days, Riku had gotten a haircut, at the urging of his mother, cutting the bangs and sides of his hair shorter than the back, but still giving them a bit of length He also used this opportunity to give the hair a new style, parting the flowing, lengthy back, and brushing it forward, letting half of the mane rest in front of either shoulder.

Adequately dried off and with his hair properly combed, dried, and styled, Riku retreated back to his room to dress.

_I'm going to boil in this...Not the kind of clothes for a tropical island._ He thought dismally, eyeing the clothes that were hanging from the outside of his closet door. Whatever his objections, the Keyblader dressed without a fuss, after slipping on a pair of boxer shorts. Black slacks, black sock, and a white collared not unlike the one he wore as part of his school uniform. He tied a red tie around his collar, and slipped on a black suit jacket and hard, black dress loafers, the kind that cut up his ankles and formed blisters on his feet. The kind he loathed to wear.

But, today, it was a necessary evil, and he would willingly put aside his personal complaints.

_Jeez, I look plain dressed like this..._ He thought, still groggy from sleep and from lack of food, straightening his pants and jacket. He _did_ look rather plain, except for his hair. His hair always made him stand out, whether it was because of the cut or the colour.

Figuring he looked presentable enough, Riku left his room, walking to the front door of his house, where his mother met him. Eira Shiozaki was dressed in formal attire as well, with a modest black dress extending past her knees, and a white cardigan draped over top. A wide-brimmed hat was resting atop her silver-white hair, and a large bouquet of lilies was resting beneath her arms.

She smiled when she caught a glance of her dressed up son. "You look very handsome, Riku." He nodded in thanks, looking a little uncomfortable in the opinion of Eira. "Well, should we get going?"

"Yeah. Let's go."

With Salm being such a small island, automobiles were a rare commodity and wholly a luxury. Only the richest of the rich (including one Aiden Minami) could afford a car, but it didn't really bother anyone all too much. The island was small after all, so walking everywhere wasn't a big deal for anyone, and even if it was, there was a public trolley system set in place that stopped at major locations and was easily affordable for all citizens. Still, Riku and Eira eschewed even the public trolley on their yearly pilgrimage, choosing to walk the full distance. The Shiozaki homestead was located to the east of the island, in a large residential block, and their destination was a little over ten kilometres to the north.

It took them a solid two hours of silent walking, but they finally arrived. A gated-off grassy knoll resting atop high white cliffs overlooking the ocean was their destination.

All throughout the knoll were various stones lined up in a meticulous and orderly manner, as if to deliberately mark something. And each one of these stones did. Riku and Eira wandered through the rows of stones, not looking at the markers as they went. They had done this before. They had done this together every year since Riku was ten, save for the past two Augusts. Mother and son knew where their final destination lay and paused their movements instantly when they finally did come to it. They turned to face the markers for the first time, and silently read the inscription on the one they were facing.

_Here lies Neir Taiyou Shiozaki. _

_Loving father, devoted husband_

_July 2nd, 1969 – August 14th, 1999_

"_If you truly desire something, you will chase it, no matter how far you have to go"_

A few minutes of silence followed and, knowing Riku wasn't going to speak just yet, Eira spoke up "Hello, Neir." She knelt down before the headstone, and placed the bouquet in front of it, like she always did. "It seems every year goes by faster than the last, but...I suppose it's a good thing. I always enjoyed talking to you..." This was her seventh time, and still it took Eira time to get her thoughts in order and spit the words out properly. Taking a quick glance over to Riku, she decided it must be harder for him. She couldn't remember him saying a word in all their yearly trips. "I...I brought Riku this time. H-he's back. He's okay... I didn't lose him. He's okay. I've been doing better, too. Having Riku back in the house... I-I don't feel alone anymore..." She shook her head, smiling to herself, before continuing. "Everyone else misses you, too. Aiden misses having a friend with a level of sanity, and Dias misses having another troublemaker around his age." This caused Eira to laugh to herself. A light breeze was starting to blow through the cemetery on the knoll. "I wish...I had something more to say. Something profound, or comforting, but... I'm just happy to see you again, to be here with Riku..." She smiled again, nervously smoothing and adjusting her bangs, as she and Riku stood in silence again, with only the sound being wind blowing through the grass and past the gravestones.

"Um...mom?" The school teacher turned to her son. "Um...do you think I could say something. I-in private?"

Eira nodded. "I'll meet you by the front gate when you're done." Her son was rarely a bashful person, so she knew well enough to give him his space. With a kiss on his cheek, Eira returned to the entrance, leaving Riku alone with his thoughts and father.

After letting enough time pass to know his mom was a safe distance away, Riku started. "Hey...dad. I...I'm sorry I haven't been here the past two years. Or that I didn't really say anything the other times I came." He scratched his cheek a few times during a pause, his eyes awkwardly looking anywhere other than the stone. "And...I'm sorry if I worried mom those two years...I don't know how anxious she was or anything, bit I'm sorry...I really am." _I'm starting to get a bit redundant now..._ "I...I kind of got wrapped up in a bunch of stuff. I don't know if you saw from...from up there, but I kind of gave in to some bad things. I lost control of myself... I almost hurt my friends, almost killed them..."

In the time preceding his tenure as Maleficent's apprentice, Riku had plenty of time for introspection on just what he did. After his dad had past away, he had decided on himself to try and be the best person he could be, to make his dad proud and prevent his mom from worrying. He was always at the top of his class in school, and he was considered one of the best young athletes Salm had produced in some years. This compulsive need to be the best is what also started his rivalry with Sora. Or, at least it intensified it even more. Yet, no matter how hard Sora tried, Riku was always – _always_ – better than Sora at everything. He got better marks in school, and had a far better record in attendance and in misdemeanours at school. He was better had soccer and blitzball and tennis and swimming and diving and swordplay and just about everything under the sun.

Except Kairi.

Sora always had the better relationship with the young girl and this formed the crux of their childhood rivalry, and it drove Riku mad. Now Riku realized Sora and Kairi were meant to be together, he had figured that out sometime ago, and he came to terms with that. Sometimes he wondered if he was even romantically interested in Kairi, and that he just wanted her because Sora had her, because Sora was better at him than something. Whatever the reason, he was happy to have a purely platonic relationship with the girl now, but he would always remembers the atrocities he committed because of his jealousy. Because he was envious of Sora, that he could make friends easier, that he was closer to Kairi.

_All because I couldn't control my own insecurity and envy..._ "It...it was tough. All the things I've done, and all I had to go through to come back home. But I did it. I'm home." He smiled a bit. He would never admit it like Sora or Kairi, but he missed Salm, and it felt could to return home. _And I thought this place was a prison once..._ Still smiling, Riku continued, saying what he came here to tell his dad. "A-and I did it, dad. I did it! I made your dream come true. I sailed farther than anyone on Salm ever did. Maybe farther than anyone on any of the islands! Me and Sora and Kairi all did it! You were right..." His vision was beginning to blur, even though he was finally looking at the gravestone. _Stupid tears..._ "You were right. There are other worlds out there. Countless worlds. Sora's seen more, but I want to see all of them too, one day. I've seen so many amazing places and met so many amazing people...done so many things that I could only dream of at one time...You were right..." Tears were flowing from his aquamarine eyes without resistance now, but he was still smiling.

With one hand, he took his tie and began to dab at the tears, he reached over and placed his other hand on the top of the headstone. After all these years of staying silent during the pilgrimage to his father's resting sight, after missing the journey the past two years, just touching the stone inflated Riku and his spirit, filling him with confidence. The confidence to do anything, to withstand whatever was coming at him in the next couple months.

Wiping away more tears, he took a few breaths to calm himself down. He hated crying and he hated it when other people saw him cry. After all, who the hell was he? Sora? With his own personal image settled, he walked back through the cemetery and back to the front gate, where his mother was awaiting him.

"You all finished?" She asked when she saw him approaching.

"Yeah." He said back. "Yeah. I feel a lot better now." Eira nodded back.

"I know what you mean. I remember the first time you did this. I broke down so much, but... I felt a lot better after spilling my soul." Riku remembered that day. She had wept hard and long, while Riku just stood behind her, quiet and awkward, not know what to do. "Come on, let's get back into town and get some breakfast. You must be starving."

The two took the trolley back into town, going to a small breakfast place that was only a fifteen minute walk away from their home. Riku thanked Kingdom Hearts when the waitress brought him his cup of coffee, relishing the caffeine entering his system, his eyes and body perking up and open.

"So, what else have you planned for today?" Eira asked after their orders were taken.

Riku took another sip of his coffee. "Uh...well, Kalyn has been bugging me to show her some of the islands, so I'm taking her to that small one to the southeast."

"Oh?" The middle-aged woman raised a thin eyebrow. "You've...you've been going out with her quite often these past two weeks, haven't you?" She said, trying to sound innocuous.

"Yeah. I hang out with Namine and Kairi, too. What's your point?" The Warrior of Dawn was not liking what his mother was getting at.

"Well, Riku, I'm just wondering if you and this girl are, well..." She trailed off, letting Riku fill in the blanks.

"Mom, no!" He told her, rolling his eyes. He got enough crow about his relationship with the girl from Dalmasca, and about his relationship status in general. "We're friends, nothing all. Please don't tell me you're going to start harping on me about this, too..."

"I'm not 'harping', Riku." His mother retorted. "I just worry about you sometimes in this matter-"

"I'm not gay!" He shot back in a reactionary manner.

"I didn't say you were." She gave him a calming look, with eyes identical to her son. "And, by the way, you're blushing a bit." Riku indeed had a bit of a pink glow on his cheeks, which only intensified when it was brought to his attention. "It's just, well, I wonder sometimes. You'll be eighteen in February, and you haven't even had a girlfriend yet. After all, your father and I were married and had you when we were both twenty. Allison and Dias had Sora when they were nineteen and twenty-three, Aiden and Julia had Erica when they were twenty-four and twenty-one."

"Yeah, well, this is a different generation, mom." Riku pointed out, draining the dregs of his cup. "Not everyone is so willing to get married nowadays..."

"I wouldn't be so sure. I mean, look at Sora and Kairi. I couldn't imagine them getting married later than twenty or twenty-one."

_Well, she has me there._ Riku thought, flagging down the waitress to get a refill. _Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if Kairi was pregnant by twenty._

Eira continued on after Riku didn't reply verbally. "I just wonder sometimes how someone as handsome as you doesn't have a girl yet."

Riku sighed, shaking his head. "I just don't, mom. I just don't." He leaned back in his seat, looking at her. "Could we just not talk about that kind of thing? I don't feel all too comfortable about it..."

"Of course, dear." She returned, smiling a him. "I have confidence that you'll come through. Just like you always do."

_Yeah. I always succeed._ He thought, laughing mentally at himself while the food came. _Riku Shiozaki, the absolute ace of Salm. The best of the best at damn near everything...except when it comes to anything to do with girls._ Yeah, he thought it was pretty funny.

* * *

><p>"You're late, Silver."<p>

"'Silver'?" Riku repeated, striding down the length of beach in front of the Alleris home. The morning weather forecast had predicted it would be an extremely hot day, and it was. For that, Riku was thankful he swapped out his suit for a sky blue muscle shirt and a long pair of cargo shorts. "You've been hanging around with Dayne or something?"

Kalyn cocked her head to the side. "Eh, Roxas has been using it too. You should be lucky you got straddled with that nickname, to be fair. Could be worse." The olive skinned girl was standing about halfway onto the small dock that jutted out into the water. Wearing a dark grey tank top and khaki capri pants with hiking boots, a large backpack slung over her shoulders and a smaller basket gripped in her right hand, she looked more than prepared for the day's adventure.

"I uh...I had something important to do beforehand." He felt embarrassed in admitting his yearly journey to the cemetery to strangers. Even worse, Riku felt just silly for being embarrassed because Kalyn knew firsthand about the loss of loved ones. "Sorry." He apologized meekly, and Kalyn cocked her head again, signalling that it was alright.

She then bolted across the remaining length of the dock, hopping into a small row boat that was tied up at the end. "If you're really sorry then you can row to this place." She sat down in the bow, crossing her legs and grinning. "Both ways."

"Alright." Riku relented, following after the Ivalician and getting into the boat as well.

While he was working on untying the knot that secured their vessel, Dawn decided this would be the most appropriate time to break her vow of silence. _"Why're you such a pushover around her?"_

Riku rolled his eyes, finishing his job and throwing the rope back onto the dock. _I'm not a pushover._ He said, throwing his leg over the edge of the boat and kicking off the dock and out towards the ocean. _I'm just being nice is all._

"_Yeah, and I know all about boys being 'nice' around young girls."_ The Spirit replied haughtily. Riku took up both oars, sat down, and lowered them into the water, cutting the surf with the paddles.

_It's not like that. Why does everyone think we're like that? Like Sora and Kairi._ Riku groaned mentally, frustrated by the constant nattering since he had returned home. Particularly from Dawn. And Roxas. And his mother. And Selphie. _Damn, I'm rusty..._ His thoughts changed track, as he found himself having difficulties moving both oars in proper synch. _It's been too long since I've gone rowing._ He looked over his shoulder to see Kalyn, hanging over the edge, staring down into the crystal blue ocean waters.

"Can you swim?" Riku asked, finding the question odd. Everyone he grew up around was a strong swimmer, so it almost always felt natural that everyone everywhere would be too. He knew better know, especially since he was sharing a boat with a girl who grew up in the middle of a desert.

"Um...yeah. I can." Kalyn replied, not turning around. Her eyes were dead set on trying to get a good look at the undersea world. Those coffee brown eyes were wide with awe, having never seen a body of water this big before in her life. "We had a small freshwater pool in our manse...I mean, my family. When I grew up..." She awkwardly trailed off, concentrating even harder on the ocean beneath her.

"So...what do you have in the basket?" Riku quickly asked, not wanting the girl to focus on those sorts of memories.

"Oh. Um...well, Allison asked me what I was doing today and when she found out she insisted she make a lunch for us."

_'Insisted'?_ Riku thought, feeling a sweat drop forming. _Not her too...She better not go on thinking this is a date..._

"_Well, it kinda does feel like a date."_ Dawn piped in. _"I mean, you have a picnic lunch, you're taking her to a private, kinda romantic place, you're asking her questions about herself..."_

Riku groaned again, rolling his eyes. It was miraculous that, in between the conversations with the two girls, physical and spiritual, he was able to find his rhythm with the oars again. _I'm just trying to be nice, Dawn. Nothing more. Man... I had to get stuck with the possessive and clingy Spirit... I bet the others won't have to deal with this._

"_I am not possessive and clingy! I just think you deserve someone better than a dangerously bipolar thief."_

_Isn't that the crux of a relationship?_ He asked, trying to sound impartial. _Looking past a person's flaws if they make you happy or something?_

"_If I didn't know any better, I'd say you did like her..."_ Dawn whispered dangerously. Riku could almost feel the Spirit creeping up behind him, breathing down his neck with every word she uttered.

That proved to be his limit. "No! No! I don't! I don't!" The silver-haired Keyblader cried out in frustration, before clamping his mouth shut. Well, he had done it now. He probably looked crazy in the eyes of his passenger now...

"Hey, hey! Slow down, Riku." Kalyn hollered from the bow, her head still jutting out over the edge. Riku looked over his shoulder to see the girl was still surprisingly enraptured by the wonder's of the ocean floor. The water was so perfectly clear today that one could see for yards and yards down below the surface, although the viewing was obscured by the boat's speed and the surf. "You're not in that much of a hurry to see this place are you? I'm missing all the cool stuff." She told him in a very excited manner, still not looking back. Her right foot was currently bouncing up and down in the air, lightly tapping the bottom of their craft.

Riku smiled, laughing to himself, as he reigned in the speed of his rowing. The Warrior of the Dawn allowed himself a glance, too, peering over the port side to see what Kalyn was so excited about. Even though the bottom was too deep to be visible, it would be obscured even if it was visible. A massive forest of seaweed and kelp and algae was blooming from the ocean floor. Long thin tendrils of plant matter reaching up, only a dozen or so feet away from the surface, growing as if they were trying to escape their watery realm and find something new. Riku could sympathize. Eventually, the underwater forest subsided, growing thinner and thinner, until it vanished entirely, revealing nothing but sand and rock and coral beneath them now. Riku knew they were drawing closer to the island he was going to show Kalyn.

The waters they were in were now much more shallow, with the ocean's floor visible to the naked eye, revealing the occasional growth of algae and other aquatic plants, as well as clusters of stones, and small coral reefs that were just starting to develop. Riku knew that this area was a popular congregation for fisherman, and it was clear to see why on this day. Crabs and prawns and shells and sea cucumbers lined the floor, scuttling slowly or standing stationary. Schools of yellowfin tuna, clown fish, blue tangs, and scorpion fish cut through the water with perfect precision and startling speed. Even a few more exotic species showed up, with a few sightings of anemones and urchins, a moray eel popping it's ugly head from a crater with a rock spire, and even a marlin darted by for a moment, so fast that Kalyn thought she had imagined it's sword-like nose.

The uninhabited island that was their destination was in sight now, Riku paddling harder again to pick up the pace. He veered the small craft to the right, circling around the small isle, about fifty yards or so away from the shoreline. The reason was that, save for a small bay with a sandy beach that was their entry point, the island was surrounded by rocks jutting out of the waters, it's entire shore a rocky waste. Even from such a far distance out though, the two were still able to spot several blue-scaled iguanas lounging on the rocks, basking in the bright sunlight. Every now and then, one of the reptiles would vanish, diving into the water, only to surface a moment later, a half chewed fish trapped in it's jaws.

After circling the island halfway around and rowing into the bay, the two jumped out of the craft, Riku pulling it up behind them onto the sandy shores. A small dirt trail laid before them, scaling up a small mountain path. Riku remembered the island well enough, even though he had been here who knows how many years. Years ago, Sora and Riku had been obsessed with adventures (well, they were still obsessed with adventures, but these were much more innocent) and were dead set on finding something exciting in the area around Salm. Sora had it in his head that there was long lost pirate treasure somewhere on the small islands around Salm, while Riku just wanted to find proof of a world beyond their small island home.

"So, there's no people on this island?" Kalyn asked, looking around. Surrounding the dirt trail at the moment was a lush tropical jungle, the canopy so thick around them the sunlight couldn't pierce it. The chatter of a hundred birds and monkeys and other jungle creatures rang out through the steaming forest. Riku's mother had issues with her young son adventuring out here by his lonesome. She was worried he would get bit by a spider or a snake, or attacked by something like an ocelot, or even some sort of wild fiend.

"No." Riku said, shaking his head. He pushed on ahead of her, motioning for her to follow him along the trail. "The islands too small to support people. That, and most people would be upset if they had to demolish this jungle for modern habitation. Most of the small islands are used for other things though."

"Like what?" The older girl jogged up right next to him, keeping pace.

"Well, sometimes during storms, fisherman will take shelter on these islands. That bay back there is extremely helpful for protecting ships from the winds and waves." The jungle was beginning to gradual thin, instead showing more of a rocky, mountain-like terrain. "Others are useful for raising livestock, or we harvest plants for medicine, or for gathering freshwater, like this one. We're coming up on a natural waterfall and lagoon."

To Riku, it looked like Kalyn was only vaguely listening, her eyes and ears taking in the foreign sights and sounds. The Keyblader from Dalmasca was only familiar with the deserts and dry plains that surrounded Dalmasca (no matter how hard she begged and tried, she was never able to visit the Giza Plains during the wet season). "Hey, I actually haven't seen you in the past few days." He started up, trying to keep her interested. "I mean, besides the shopping trip." She turned to face him, cocking her head to the side. "I was just wondered, what have you been doing?"

"Well, you know, most days I'm stuck by myself." She shrugged, taking a few long strides to advance ahead of Riku, despite the fact that he was the one familiar with the terrain. "Dayne's at his job or training the other kids, Sora and Red and Rox and Namine are all off doing their couples thing. I assume you're off doing something similar..."

"What? No." _She really doesn't know me that well, does she?_ "I...I'm not doing anything like that, trust me." He smiled at her, trying to come off friendly.

She just nodded slowly, her face neutral. The sound of rushing water was now starting to become audible, muffled partly by the distance and the surrounding greenery. "Huh. Just 'cause, I thought you'd be into that whole relationship thing, too. Everyone your age on this place seems to be."

"Well, if that's true, I guess I'm the exception to the rule." Riku replied with a laugh.

"Good to know." She half-muttered.

"Why don't you call up someone else?" Riku offered. "Like, Selphie, Tidus, anyone?"

"I don't think I'm good at meeting new people." Kalyn admitted, although she didn't sound particularly worried about the supposed flaw. "Besides, I apparently gotta spend all Saturday with those girls? Not really looking forward to all that..."

Riku laughed in agreement. An afternoon and night with Selphie hopped up on sugar was a torture he wouldn't wish on Xemnas. "But what have you been doing with yourself? I hope not parking yourself on the couch and playing video games."

Kalyn's face scrunched up in annoyance. "I suck at those things..." She grumbled. "Stupid controller...my Keyblade is way more intuitive." Riku chuckled again. "What I've been doing is training."

"Training?"

"Mhmm." She began to twist her head about, as if looking for something. "That Aqua chick said she's be back in September for our next mission. That's two weeks, and I don't think I'm anywhere near as strong as you, pineapple head, and Red. At least not in terms of expertise with the Keyblade. So..." She raised her her hand, index finger and thumb held at a right angle. With a quick gesture, a short stream of water rocketed out of her fingertips, sailing through the air and hitting what she had been looking for: a target. The water bullet severed an inch-thick tree branch in two. "Bang!" She pronounced proudly, swaggering ahead with a cocky smirk on her face.

"Not bad." Came Riku, even though his Ray of Dawn looked very similar to the stream, and, from his judgement, was stronger. "What else can you do?"

"Dunno." She said. "Mostly I've been testing the limits of my water powers. What I can and can't do." A small orb of water formed in the palm of her hand, swirling around in the way only a liquid could do. "I can manipulate bodies of water freely with my mind. It takes a bit of concentration to give it a definite shape though. I can also take water from a body and store it within my Keyblade for later use, or to use it in a way like summoning geysers. I can also heat and cool the water, though I can't freeze it, or control ice."

_Maybe I should ask Kairi or Namine to teach her some magic._ Riku noted. _Give her some more versatility._ Personally, he had no interest in the magical arts, his Dawn powers giving him a broad enough scope, but Kalyn might feel differently. "So, what happens if you don't have a body of water near you?"

"I can draw in water vapour from the air, directly into my body. My soul, more like it." The ball of water in her hand began to shift forms, becoming a small funnel, spinning at a blinding pace. "I then mix it with my spiritual energy and it multiplies the water, and then I can release it as normal water, but making usable quantities of water requires more concentration and energy than manipulating preexisting water. It also evaporate almost instantly, unless I maintain it, which, again, takes concentration."

Riku had a private laugh at Kalyn casually mentioning she could essentially break the laws of physics. "Hey, wait. How do you know all this? Like, the mixing of vapour of spirit energy?"

"Dunno." The Dalmascan replied with a shrug. She then flicked her hand, the funnel flying forward like a drill, piercing a hole clean through a near by tree trunk with a squishy, wet sound, before breaking apart into droplets of water. "I just know." Riku nodded along, curious as to the true reasoning of her knowledge, before he stopped himself, noticing a change in the path they were still walking on.

"Ah, looks like we're here." He motioned to a fork in the path, and the two changed direction, cutting through some wild growth, and followed the sound of rushing water.

In an almost jarring transition, a black rock plateau jutted out of the dirt path and lush greenery. About forty-feet back, the rock began to slope up to form a stout mountain, multiple trails of water running down the slope and off the edge of the plateau, forming a large, rushing waterfall. The cascade dropped another forty feet, ending into a wide pool of shining pristine water, crystal clear and sparkling in the midday sun.

"Whoa..." Kalyn breathed, hopping up onto the black rock, and looking around with wide-eyed amazement. Her footsteps splashed through the small rivulets of running water, as she looked out over the precipice of the rocky cliff, the view stretching out in all directions. The ocean went as far as the horizon, growing out even farther than Kalyn's eyes would allow her to view. Salm was visible to the west, the town and homesteads practically invisible. Various small islands dotted the ocean, only visible as splotches of green and brown in the deep blue waters.

Riku tapped her by the shoulders. "That's Maydel over their." He pointed out to the alien girl. "It's the closest inhabitable island, six-times as large as Salm." Maydel and Salm were almost directly adjacent to one another, separated by miles and miles of water.

"It's a beautiful world you have here, Riku." Kalyn replied with a thin smile, that made Riku smile in kind, his heart skipping a beat. The brunette took a few more steps, finding an "island" in the myriad of streams, the water not running through the stone here, but instead being diverted around it. She took a seat on her tiny stone platform, taking off her backpack, placing it and the basket down.

"Yeah...it is." Riku replied, walking over and taking a seat next to her. "It's funny, I used to find myself completely bored by everything around me, I wanted more... Now, someone like you comes along and you're utterly engrossed by the stuff I got used to years ago."

"Well, I feel the same about Rabanastre. I bet the city seemed exotic and thrilling to you, but to me, it was nothing more than a sandstone prison." Kalyn told him, pushing back a few strands of her hair. The thick brown hair was done up in a high ponytail today. "Everyone wants something new at one point in time." She moved back a few more strands, Riku peering over to her.

"Hmm, I never noticed those before..." He noted. There was a bit of silvery metal set in her earlobe, with another three hoops fixed in along the edge of her ear, set apart an equal distance. The Ivalician Keyblade Warrior looked over to him with a curious look on her face. "I meant your earrings. I never noticed them before."

"Oh, yeah..." a pink flush crept along her cheeks, as she turned away again. "T-they were a birthday gift from my parents. For my sixteenth..."

_Smooth, Riku... Keep bringing up the dead parents..._ Awkwardly, the teen reached over to the young woman, gently touching her shoulder. "Um...I'm sorry. I don't keep meaning to bring up your parents and sister..."

She stopped him by placing her hand atop his own.

"It's okay Riku..." She told him, smiling a bit. His heart skipped again, causing him to wonder if all the stress of being a hero was getting to him. "I made peace with that stuff a while ago. Yeah, it still hurts, but I make do. I know Mirello and mom and dad would want me to keep going forward, so I won't let what happened bring me down."

The silver-haired teen smiled back, feeling a bit hot on his face. "I know what you're going through..." He blurted out, caught up in the moment. "I...my dad passed away when I was young. I know it's not similar to your situation, but, well..." He started to scratch his cheek nervously. Kalyn in response shook her head, untying the laces on her boots. "...What are you doing?"

"I think I got a good beat on you, Silver." She told him, kicking off her boots and then pulling off her socks. She stood up. "You seem like the type to brood and analyze stuff like that. I bet you could contemplate your navel if need be." Riku looked affronted by that comment, but the look slowly slid off his face when Kalyn started to shimmy out of her pants, tossing off her shirt while she was at it.

"K-Kalyn!" He blushed fiercely. The brunette had stripped down to nothing more than a white undershirt and grey boy shorts. "What in the name of god are you doing?"

She tilted her head again, looking at him. "I'm trying to get you off your little mopey train of thought." Kalyn explained, seemingly unaware of the discomfort she was causing Riku. With that done, she bolted towards the edge of the rocky shelf, bounding off at the last possible centimetres of solid ground. Her body sailed ten-feet forward, before she began to sink like a stone. The young woman tucked her knees up to her chest, linking her arms over her legs, giving out an excited scream, and she splashed down into the lagoon below.

_Well, can't let her have all the fun._ He thought, grinning at the behaviour of Kalyn, which seemed a little odd coming from her. Riku quickly stripped down to his boxers, bundling all their clothes together, before striding to the precipice, leaping into the air like his friend. Quickly tucking his legs into his chest, Riku rolled forward five-hundred and forty degrees, before straightening out his body like a spear, clapping his arms together, hands in a point. The athletic Keyblader easily pierced the surface of the water, with only a small splash signalling his entry, diving ten feet beneath the surface, before kicking his way back up through the pure, clean waters of the spring.

Treading water, Riku spun around as gracefully as the fluid would allowing, catching Kalyn. It was both a pleasant and unfortunate sight for the Warrior of Dawn, as his eyes grew wide. _She just had to wear a white shirt..._ The thin undershirt the girl wore was sticking to her slim, nubile body, showing off the subtle curves of her body, as well as the toned muscles on her stomach. His sharp eyes hypnotically fixated on her, Riku's mind began to spin it's gears on the topic. _She's the oldest out of all of us, but he breasts aren't all that big..._ Kalyn's light blue bra was partly visible through the translucent shirt. Riku did his best to avoid staring directly at it, but instead his eyes kept darting all across her body. _Okay, only Garnet and Selphie can compete with Kairi, but I think she's only bigger than Namine, and even then, not by much..._

"_I didn't know my Master was such a pervert."_ Dawn teased in a singsong manner.

_S-shut up! I just have a mind that works like this... I just notice things. All sorts of things... Small things..._

"_Maybe later you can tell me what you've noticed about me?"_

"Hey." Kalyn called out. Riku snapped out of his gaze, staring directly into Kalyn's eyes now. For a moment, he thought she was blushing a bit, looking at his bare, well-muscled chest in a manner similar to how he was looking at her. Regardless, Riku was sure he was about to get chewed out. Instead, Kalyn told him, "I think there's something at the bottom of the pool. Something shiny."

Riku raised an eyebrow, before looking down, peering down into the waters. The lagoon was so clear that the black rock bottom was visible, and there was indeed a small object shimmering on the floor of the pool.

"Do you think it's something valuable?" Kalyn asked as he looked back up. "Like jewels, or gold? Stuff like that."

"I doubt it." He admitted. "Sora and I used to go exploring for buried treasure. We checked every single landmass within fifteen miles of Salm. We came up with nothing." Kalyn didn't seem to care.

"Yeah, well, I'm curious." She said, bobbing up and down in the water. "First one to get whatever it is get's to keep it. Three, two, one, go!" With one final bob, Kalyn circled about, diving under, kicking her legs furiously to reach the mysterious item, around twenty feet below her.

Riku grinned a bit, before diving after her. Although he was pleasantly surprised by Kalyn's swimming skills, Riku had been swimming for almost as long as he had been walking and talking. So, despite her head start, Riku made it to the bottom a good five seconds before Kalyn did. He quickly scooped up the item, vision partly obscured by free-flowing hair, and then kicked off the ground, rocketing back to the surface.

"Damn..." Kalyn panted heavily, trying to catch her breath, while pushing back thick wet brown hair sticking to her forehead. "Are you part fish or something?"

He smirked in response. "Just been surrounded by water my entire life."

"Yeah, well, let's see what you scored." Riku brought his right hand out of the water, revealing the object was a small glass ornament with an image in it, suspended on a short chain. "What is it?"

"A summon charm." Riku told her, recognizing it since he owned one already, the Paladin Charm. "These summon all manners of creatures. Usually beings who have continued to exist through sheer force of will, even though their world was destroyed." He explained to her, after seeing her confused face.

"Who does it summon?"

"Won't know until I summon it, but they tend to be useful." Riku chose to examine the charm's image. It was depicting a thin rocket, all in black. The thrusters of the rocket seemed to be very stylized, looking like a hand gripping a push-button trigger of some sort._ Odd... Well, I guess you'll be getting a test in a few weeks._ "So, that makes two for me, one for Kairi, and two for Sora." He remembered the other two showing off their charms, the Sun, Snake, and Devil Charms that summoned Amaterasu, Solid Snake, and Dante, respectively.

"What? You guys all have one?" Kalyn pouted. "Man, where can I get one of those things?" Riku shrugged in reply.

"You just come across them." He then began to backstroke towards the edge of the pool. "Come on, I'm getting hungry. Besides, we shouldn't be away from our clothes and food for too long. Animals might get into them."

"Probably a good idea." She swam after him, the two clambering out of the water and onto a patch of grass. Another dirt trail was nearby, and it would lead back up the hill again. "Oh, Riku." He turned around at the sound of her name. "April seventeenth."

The silver-haired teen just looked on confused. "Huh?" He blinked once or twice.

"You asked me when my birthday was." She explained, ringing the water out of her long hair. "So I crunched the numbers, and came up with April seventeenth, by this calendar."

"You sure the numbers are right?"

"Nope." Admitted Kalyn in a wholly casual way. "But, I'm pretty sure. And who cares, right? Just get me some chocolate, and I'll be happy." She said with a smile, before dashing along the trail again.

Riku followed after her, Dawn's voice ringing in his mind again. _"Well, at least she's an easy girl to shop for. Makes your life a bit easier."_ Her comment seems innocent, but Riku sniffed out an implication that he was getting sick and tired of.

_Damn it, Dawn! We're not a couple! _He protested, sorely exhausted of hearing these accusations while doing his best to keep his outward cool._ We're. Not. A. Couple!_

* * *

><p>The following day, Riku found himself hunting for food at around midday. He always found it a little depressing that the only thing his tiny island was well known for in the world was, well, food. Lots and lots of quality food of all kinds. For whatever reason, Salm seemed to be a breeding ground of chefs, cooks, and culinary creations unheard of by man before. As miniscule a contribution as it was, Riku couldn't complain. He was always well fed and content in what he ate at that.<p>

Dotting the beaches of Salm were various small snack bars, sitting anywhere between five to twelve people, that served a variety of fast food, depending on the season and which particular bar you visited. All of them offered affordable, tasty, sometimes one of a kind food items, from seafood to soups and stews, to soda and speciality drinks and all manner of deserts (but only a couple sold sea-salt ice cream bars, to Roxas's continued annoyance). Some even stayed open past dark and sold alcohol to anyone legal.

And so Riku began his quest for such a snack bar, which was fairly difficult to do in the middle of the afternoon during the summer, as most of the small eateries were occupied, with more people loosely milling around them, waiting for a spot to open.

_I should have just stayed home and made something._ Riku thought, after coming across the fifth occupied stand. This one add the longest waiting line yet. His stomach grumbled irritably in protest. _It's those damn snowballs,_ he told himself and his stomach. _They're far too addicting._

Snowballs were one such culinary creation that was born on Salm. In practice, it was nothing more than a snow cone, but a special machine was used to shave the ice, resulting in the texture being akin to powdered snow instead of chips of ice. They also happened to be Riku's favourite desert, and he knew every snack shop that sold them as well as the back of his hand.

The next such shop was a good ten minutes away, so Riku began to hoof it, trying to think of something to pass the time. _Hey, Dawn? Are you there?_

"_I'm always there for you, Riku-kun!"_ The Spirit declared in her normal joyous manner. _"What can I do for you?"_

_I've just been wondering some things. About you. I've been thinking about you a lot..._

"_Oh my."_ Dawn swooned, her musical voice lilting through Riku's head in such a manner he could practically feel her blush. _"You certainly know how to make a girl feel special."_

_No, no, no._ He reddened. The worlds were laughing at him. Of course he was the one straddled with a crippling gun shy nature when it came to women, and of course he had to be partnered with a Spirit head-over-heels in love with him.

"_I know, silly. I'm just teasing you."_ Dawn interrupted, giggling a bit. _"Remember? I have access to your thoughts and memories. I know you've been wondering about us Spirits, and about the Resonances. So, shoot. I'm all ears."_

Riku nodded. Ever since Twilight Town, where Way to Dawn transformed into Dark Before Dawn, where he performed his first Drive, seemingly merging with Dawn herself, he had been wondering about it. The Keyblade, and just what it was, what the limits of it's powers were. An unbreakable sword, an implement for magic and similar abilities, an object possessing a living soul, and now, some sort of artifact with it's own powers to be unlocked.

"_The Key is a lock, heh. Haven't heard that one in a while..."_ When Riku raised an eyebrow to her statement, she followed up. _"Never mind that. You have questions for me?"_

_Yeah. _Riku paused for a moment, before he saw the snack bar he had been searching for. Three seats were open, causing him to rush to the counter and grab a stool. _Like, what is a Resonance?_

"_Well, the Grand Powers of the Keyblade are divided into three tiers."_ Dawn explained, Riku picking up a menu from the bar and giving it a once over. _"Resonance is the first tier, and is usually first performed when a Wielder makes contact with their Spirit. Sometimes it happens before, like with you. Sometimes it happens a little afterwards. But mostly it occurs around first contact."_

"Could I get the green pork and rice with a coke?" Riku asked the chef behind the bar. He gave a nod and began to work on the order, letting the Warrior of Dawn go back to his mental conversation. _You also mentioned the "wavelengths of the heart". What was the deal with that?_

"_An excellent question."_ Dawn replied in a very professional manner. An image flashed through Riku's head, that of Dawn dressed in a white button-up blouse, skirt and heels, complete with glasses and a pointer, giving a lecture up by a blackboard. _"You see, part of the strength of the Keyblade comes from feeding off the emotions of the Wielder. Each kind of emotion forms a specific wavelength, similar to sound or light. But what kind of emotions strengthen the blade depends on the Spirit of the Keyblade."_ Riku's food showed up, and he gratefully began to devour the meal, as Dawn continued on. _"I feed off your altruism, and your desire to help your friend and sacrifice yourself for them. The emotional power-up creates a positive feedback loop, where you strengthen me and the Keyblade, and the Keyblade in turn empowers you. And, of course, as you know firsthand, your power is sapped when you are in disharmony with me."_

Riku nodded along, stirring together his rice and green chili sauce. It was a good thing to know he would get stronger by just being himself. _Anything else to know about Resonances?_

"_There is. There exists three specific types of Resonances: Advanced, Arms, and Aura."_ Dawn explained, as Riku began to eat the remains of his meal, matching Sora in terms of speed. _"Advanced types usually consist of a minor transformation in the bearer, similar to your buddy's Drive Forms. Both our Spirit Drive and the Master of Destiny's Resonance Drive are Advanced Resonances. Arms types involve transforming the Keyblade into a different kind of object. It could be a different kind of weapon like a spear or bow and arrow, or a shield, or even some kind of special, magical tool, like a glove or a telescope. Princess Light's shield is an Arms type."_

_Hey, wait a minute. _Riku broke in. The chef came by again and Riku ordered his desert, a lime snowball, before he spoke his mind into his mind again. _You said Arms types change the Keyblade, but Kairi's shield exists independently of the Keyblade. Why is that?_

"_Well, these aren't hard and fast rules, you have to remember. With the Keyblade, there is always leeway for exceptions. Plenty of exceptions. If I had to make a guess, it's that her Light is so powerful and unique, it's allowed her to modify the Resonance in such a manner."_

_Hmm, okay. So, what's the last type of Resonance?_

"_Aura types. These Resonances boost a certain aspect of the Wielder, usually something physical. Maybe it makes them faster or stronger, or gives them better reflexes, or even allow them to manipulate another element as well as their Master Element. Anything else you want to know?_

Riku dug into his snowball, relishing in his sweet addiction. _Yeah. I understand that Resonances are activated the first time upon contact. But...how would I go about using Spirit Drive again?_ Someone sat down to the left of Riku, but he was too engrossed in his conversation and desert to really notice.

_After a while, you will be able to perform it as easy as summoning and dismissing your Keyblade._ Dawn assured him. _But for the next few Drives, it can only be performed in a moment of intense mental and physical duress and when your wavelength is at or near it's climax._

Riku nodded again, going over everything Dawn had just said while digging his spoon deeper into the snowball to get at more of the syrup, when the man over to his left spoke up, making his order.

"Yeah, could I get the two piece combo, with takoyaki and calamari? Uh...dragonfruit Salo and pineapple sorbet, too." Riku perked up in his stool, pivoting left.

"Dayne?"

Indeed, the tall, lanky Keyblader was sitting in the stool, adjacent to the silver-haired teen. Sunglasses with metallic red lens were pushed up onto his forehead, and an easygoing grin was set over his face. "Hey there, Silver." He greeted in a unusually cheery way, as he turned over for the greeting. "Fancy seeing you here."

"Small island, huh?" He said sarcastically. Dayne gave a snort of laughter as the cook placed his food down in front of him. _I think Dayne might be drunk or something..._ He was not used to the former bodyguard acting in such a casual, calm, nonthreatening manner. "That's a...that's a lot of cephalopod there." He replied, eyeing the meal.

"Yeah. But a lot of good cephalopod." Dayne grinned, spearing one of the fried octopus balls and popping it in his mouth. After swallowing, the tall man looked over and asked, "So, what's on your mind?"

"Why would you say that?"

"You're looking pensive, serious, kinda down." Dayne replied, in between mouthfuls of fried food. "And not how you normally look pensive, serious, and down. This time it looks like you actually have issues."

Riku rolled his eyes at that. "It's nothing, just thinking." He replied, before blurting out, under his breath, "Girl troubles..."

"Girl troubles?" Dayne cocked an eyebrow, resulting in Riku facepalming.

"Damn it..."

Dayne seemed oblivious to Riku's little slip and his embarrassment. "You know, I've been wondering actually, what is with you and girls? Why are you so gun shy? I mean, and this coming from almost eight decades of staunch heterosexual behaviour, but you're an attractive young man." Riku groaned loudly.

"What is with you?" He asked abruptly. "I mean, why the hell are you acting like this? You're Dayne damn it."

Dayne shrugged. "This is just how I act when I'm not in the middle of a war."

"You mean 'weird'?"

"Yeah. Pretty much." Dayne seemed perfectly happy with the label, as if it didn't bother him at all. "So, come on man, just open up. I'm not gonna bite back or anything."

The Dawn wielder just sighed, as if to say he couldn't believe he was doing this. "Well...okay. You ever heard the stereotype 'So beautiful, it's a curse'?"

Dayne burst into a short fit of raucous laughter. "Are you really so vain man?"

"No! That's just the only way I can relate this story." Riku shook his head, deeply regretting this already. Why was he even telling Dayne this? "See, what happened was, when I was growing up, I went through the changes all boys do at about twelve, thirteen, fourteen or so. And, like you said, I'm sort of attractive...But, anyways. The girls took notice of this as I began to...develop. The hair, the eyes, the muscles, all that. And they sort of became obsessed with me. And not just girls my age. But ones two, three, even four years older than me. I was afraid to go outside for a few weeks because I kept getting swarmed by girls." He cleared his throat and began muttering, trailing off. "So, yeah, that's kind of why I'm not so good around women... Why am I telling you this?"

Dayne shrugged casually. "You and I are both mature people and we can relate to one another?" He offered, before both men shared a short bit of derisive laughter. "But...I don't think that's all that's getting you down, Silver..."

Riku noted the dangerous sounding tone. "Dayne, what are you getting at?" He replied under his breath, trying to sound just as dangerous.

The older man was seemingly more focused on his desert, taking several bites before speaking. "Well, I've just been hearing things about you and our friend from Ivalice..." Instantly, Riku tried to stand from his seat, bristling visibly. Dayne put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back down. "Now, now, just settle. Remember here, I'm as neutral a third party as you'll find. I'm not one of the guys who will tease you mercilessly. I'm not of the girls who will giggle and gossip and try to set you two up. I'm gonna ask you a question, and I won't repeat it. Whatever you say will be between you, me, and my desert." He gestured to the half-finished sorbet, and Riku noticeably calmed, even smiling a tiny bit. "So...do you like Kalyn?"

"...Yes..."

The answer came after a long pause, in a voice so small as to make sure that only Dayne (and his desert) would ever hear. Riku's face instantly turned tomato red, regretting his lapse.

"Hey-hey!" Dayne cheered, as loud as Riku was quiet. He gave the younger man a hearty smack on the back, grinning broadly. Riku just shrank even more. "Now, why?" He asked, curiously

Riku almost fell out of his seat at the implausible shift in Dayne's tone and actions. Eventually, he regained his composure and returned, "Well, I mean, she doesn't act clingy or anything around me. That's pretty endearing." He was blushing again as he spoke, but it was a bit more graceful blush. He was even smiling a bit. "And she's not angry or bossy around me like everyone else. She's calm and nice...But, even then. There's nothing beyond that." He shook his head, silver locks splaying about. "It's just a shallow, physical thing. Nothing more."

"So?" Dayne snorted, causing Riku to look over, a bit insulted. "Listen, yeah, in a perfect world we'd only be attracted to a person based on their personality and stuff, but this isn't a perfect world. So you like the way she looks? Yeah, it's shallow, but it serves a purpose. You get closer to them, get to know them, and you slowly get deeper and deeper." Riku waved him off, but Dayne continued, unabated. "Hey, it happens. With me and Rain." This gave the younger man pause. "Yeah, hell, I only started hanging around with her because she was the only other Immortal I could stomach. Then we started to...ahem, have the maritals and all that, to work out our stress. And, then, slowly, it changed. We fell in love." Looking off into the distant wistfully for a moment, Dayne seemed to have left reality all together, before starting up, as suddenly as he had stopped. "It can happen, man. You just have to be willing to take a chance, see what happens." He then shrugged again. "But, whatever. Like I said, this is between you and me, and I won't bring it up again unless you want me to."

"Um...thanks, Dayne..." Riku offered, awkwardly. He scratched the back of his head, not knowing what to make of the situation he was in now. "Looks like I'm done here then," he pushed off the stool and onto the sand.

Dayne turned around. "Oh? And what do you have planned for the day?"

"Just gonna walk around." He said, cool as he could managed. "I'll catch you around, okay?" Dayne nodded, before turning back to the cook and placing an order for another desert. _Take a chance, huh? Well, if I played life safe, then none of this crazy stuff would have happened to any of us. Let's roll the dice one more time._...

Walking around, Riku eventually came across Sora, Roxas, Kairi, and Namine, heading in the opposite direction. "Hey, Riku!" Sora ran up to him. "We've been looking all over for you man. Tidus wants to have a game of blitz in about an hour, you in?"

He nodded sharply. "Of course I am, I uh...just got to do something first. Hey, do any of you know where Kalyn is?"

Brother looked over at brother and sister looked to sister, confused and curious of the question. "Um...she's usually just outside our house on the beach, for whatever reason or another."

"Okay, thanks you guys." Riku patted Sora on the shoulder, and moved on. "I'll meet you guys at the park in about an hour. See ya!" The silver-haired teen then ran off, leaving his four friends fairly mystified.

"He's looking for Kalyn...?" Kairi asked, though not asking anyone in particular. "Do you really think he's...you know?"

"Interested in her?" Roxas finished. "Yeah, even though I don't really know why anyone would..." He then began to walk in the direction Riku went.

"What are you doing?" Namine asked him. "You can't go following him, he'll go berserk if you're there."

Roxas disarmed her with a warm grin. "He won't see me. I'll be all stealthy and such. Now, come on everyone. I have a feeling either Riku's going to fall on his face, or Kalyn's fist will fall on him." He gave a short laugh, waved everyone along, and ran off, the others trailing out of morbid curiosity.

"Hey, Kalyn!" Riku called out when he finally saw the brunette. True to his prediction, Kalyn was on the beach in front of the Alleris home, sitting down, her Keyblade Freedom driven into the sand. From the sheen of sweat in the sunlight, Riku could tell that she had just finished in another engagement of her private training.

"Oh, hey Riku." She turned her head. "What's up? Come to join me or something?" Unbeknownst to the two older teens, a bush on the lawn raised over the beach began to rustle. Popping through the bush, were the heads of Sora, Kairi, Roxas, and Namine, all eyes and ears on the happenings on their friends.

"No, not today at least." He tried to give an easy smile, but he felt like he was overplaying it. His nerves were already so shot, he felt like facing off against Maleficent would be easier than doing this. "I-I just...I have something to tell you..."

"Tell me?" Kalyn scrutinized the silver-haired boy across from her. "Well, what is it? Spit out."

"Oh my god! He's actually gonna do it!" Kairi squeed quietly from her bush, feeling a surge of pride for her friend. The other three shushed her, and continued to watch with bated breath.

_Well, I was just going to say, that I like you, Kalyn. Really like you. I think you're a very pretty girl, very curious and strong. I want to get to know you better, and I was wondering if you'd like to go out one night..._

...Is what Riku said to himself. What he _wanted_ to say. Instead, he only spat out a single, nonsense word that only served to make him feel like a gigantic idiot.

"...Coconuts!"

"Eh?" Kalyn titled her head to the side, unsure of what to make of it. Both she and Riku seemingly deflated. "W-what the hell are you on, Silver?" Nerves shot, courage drained, and dignity gone, Riku just gave up, slinking away after a while, totally embarrassed, but thankful only he and Kalyn would know about this.

Or so he thought.

"Man, I thought I was rough around the edges with girls." Sora chuckled from his hiding spot, embarrassed for his friend after the situation. He still found it funny though. "Good thing I'll never do that, huh Kai?"

Kairi just buried her face into the palm of her hands. "Oh, Riku..."

Namine began to hum a familiar, jaunty tune. "Damn. Now I'm gonna have the 'coconuts' song stuck in my head all day."

Roxas, meanwhile, took a much more disparaging position. "What an idiot." He said darkly, glaring at the deflated Riku. "He fails on so many levels!"

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><p><em>Alright, so time for the contest. Just like the original game had it's "Name in the Game" contest, I shall be having a "Name in the Fic" contest (negative ten points for unoriginality)!<em>

_Here's how it will work. For an undetermined amount of time, anytime a Summon Charm appears, the first person to correctly name the character the Charm summons will have a character in the story named after them. And since Riku nabbed the Rocket Charm this chapter, let's start it right now!_

_But, first, a little hint for the charm:_

This character represents the fortieth anniversary of a long-running Japanese television series. He is also known as Gentarou Kisaragi, and he vows to become friends with every student at Amanogawa High School. UCHUU KITAAA~

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><p><strong>Please Review<strong>

**SirAngelo**


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